housekeeper 
holder.] 1. One who occupies a house with 
his family ; a householder. 
Her brother was Gamwel, of great Gamwel-Hall, 
A noble house-keeper was he. 
Robin Hood's ISirth (Child's Ballads, V. 344). 
Thomas Cholmondeley . . . was a cryed-up landlord, a 
constant and generous housekeeper. 
Quoted in Ormerod's Cheshire (2d ed.), II. 166. 
The modern Egyptian does not become a housekeeper 
until he is married. 
E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, II. 269. 
2. A woman, whether mistress or servant, who 
superintends the work of a household ; a woman 
who regulates the internal affairs of a house. 
There were some stately footmen. . . . There was a very 
pretty show of young women ; and above them the hand- 
some old face and fine responsible portly figure of the 
housekeeper towered pre-eminent. 
Dickens, Bleak House, xviii. 
3. One who keeps much at home; a stay-at- 
home. [Rare.] 
How do you both? you are manifest housekeepers. What 
are you sewing here? Shak., Cor., i. S. 
4f. One who keeps or guards the house; a 
house-dog. 
The valued file 
Distinguishes the swift [dogj, the slow, the subtle, 
The housekeeper, the hunter. Shak., Macbeth, iii. 1. 
housekeeping (hous'ke"ping), . and a. [< 
house 1 + keeping, verbal n. of keep, v.; cf . house- 
keeper."] I. n. 1. The management of home 
affairs ; care of domestic concerns. 
Housekeeping is an occupation involving wages like any 
other business, except that the owner consumes thewhole 
result. Jevons, Pol. Econ., p. 285. 
2. Supply of provisions for household use. 
[Bare.] 
"Tell me, softly and hastily, what is in the pantry?" 
"Small housekeeping enough," said Phoebe. 
Scott, Woodstock, lit 
3f. Hospitality. 
Warwick, my son, the comfort of my age ! 
Thy deeds, thy plainness, and thy housekeeping 
Hath won the greatest favour of the commons. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 1. 
II. a. Domestic ; used in a family : as, house- 
keeping commodities. 
housel (hou'zel), n. [< ME. house!, < AS. husel, 
husl = Icel. Jiusl, the housel, = Goth, hunsl, a 
sacrifice; usually compared with Gr. Kalvtiv, 
KTtiveiv, kill, Skt. -\/ kshan, wound.] If. The 
eucharist; the sacrament. 
For as moche as man and wyf 
Shulde shewe her paroche prest her lyf 
Onys a yeer, as seith the book, 
Er ony wight his hounel took. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 6386. 
2. The act of taking or receiving the sacra- 
ment. [Archaic.] 
So the stately Queen abode 
For many a week, unknown among the nuns ; 
Nor with them mix d, nor told her name, nor sought, 
Wrapt in her grief, for housel or for shrift. 
Tennyson, Guinevere. 
houselt (hou'zel), v. t. [< ME. houselen, hous- 
len, Imselen, huslen, < AS. huslian = Icel. husla 
= OSw. husla, give the eucharist to, = Goth. 
hunsljan, sacrifice; from the noun.J 1. To ad- 
minister the eucharist to. 
2903 
spread widely over northern Europe and America, grow- 
ing on the tops of houses and on walls. It is a succulent 
herb with very thick, bushy leaves and pink flowers, and 
is very tenacious of life. It contains malic acid combined 
with lime. The leaves are applied by the common people 
to bruises and old ulcers ; 
and it was formerly be- 
lieved that houseleeks 
growing on a housetop 
were a safeguard against 
lightning. In Scotland it 
is called fou or fouet. 
In England it is some- 
times called homewort. 
Howsleke, herbe, or sen- 
grene, barba Jovis, sem- 
perviva, jubarbium. 
Prompt. Parv., p. 251. 
houseleek-tree 
(hous'lek-tre), n. 
Setnpervivum (ioni- 
um) arboreum, a na- 
tive of the Levant, 
whence it is said to 
have been introduced 
into England in 1640. 
It bears loose pani- 
cles with a profusion 
of beautiful yellow 
blossoms. 
houseless (hous'les), 
a. [< ME. housles; < 
house 1 + -less."] With- 
out a house or habi- 
tation ; without shel- 
ter: as, the houseless 
child of want. 
Houseleek (Sempervivum tecto- 
rum}, a, fruit. 
He shal housele me anon. 
Rom. of the Rose, 1. 6442. 
Oones a yer atte leste way It is lawful to be hanseled, for 
sothely oones a yer alle thinges In the erthe renovelen. 
Chaucer, Parson's Tale. 
Upon the gracyous trust of God and of hem, wee leet 
synge Masse, and made every man to ben schryven and 
houseld. Mandeville. Travels, p. 283. 
Hence 2. To prepare for a journey. [Rare.] 
May zealous smiths 
So housel all our hackneys that they may feel 
Compunction in their feet, and tire at Highgate. 
Fletcher, Wit without Money, ill. 1. 
house-lamb (hous'lam), >/. A lamb kept in a 
house for fattening. 
housel-boxt, . The box in which the housel or 
eucharist is carried. 
They haue a cloake vpon their left shoulder descending 
before and behind vnder their right arme, like vnto a dea- 
con carying the housiel-boxe in time of lent. 
Hakluyt's Voyages, I. 116. 
houseleek (hous'lek), n. [< ME. howsleek, 
howsleke (= D. huislook = MLG. huslok, LG. hus- 
look = MHG. huslouch, G. hauslauch = ODan. 
huslog, Dan. huslog = Sw. huslok, houseleek) ; 
< housed + leek, in the general sense of 'herb': 
see leek.~\ The common name of the plants of 
the genus Sempervivum, natural order Cruxxn- 
lacete. The common houseleek, S. tectorum, was origi- 
nally found native in the great mountain -ranges of cen- 
tral and southern Europe to the Caucasus, whence it has 
183 
How shall your houseless heads, and unfed sides, 
Your loop'd and window'd raggedness, defend you 
From seasons such as these? Shak., Lear, iii. 4. 
house-line (hous'lin), n. [< house (application 
not obvious) + line 2 ."] Naut., a small line 
formed of three strands, used for seizings, etc. 
Also housing. 
houseling 1 (hou'zel -ing), n. and a. [< ME. 
houselyng, housling ; verbal n. of housel, v.~] 
I.t n. The act of administering the eucharist. 
We fast the eaue, we feast the day 
Of euery saint they make, 
Their houslings, shrifts, and sacraments, 
Most reuerently we take. 
Warner, Albion's England, v. 23. 
II. a. 1. Of or pertaining to the eucharist: 
as, houseling bread. [Archaic.] 2f. Pertain- 
ing to any of the sacraments of the Roman 
Catholic Church, as marriage. 
And to the knight Ms daughter deare he tyde 
With sacred rites and vowes for ever to abyde. . . . 
His owne two hands, for such a turne most fltt, 
The housling fire did kindle and provide. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. xil. 37. 
Houseling people i , communicants. 
The sayd Guyld is wythin the parysh church of saynt 
Laurence, within which paryshe ben M.D.CCC housling 
peple, or theraboutes. English Gilds (E. E. T. S.), p. 199. 
houseling 2 (hous'ling), n. A tame animal, or 
one brought up by nand. Halliwell. [Prov. 
Eng.] 
houseling-cloth (hou'zel-ing-kl6th), n. A long 
strip of white liuen or other white stuff held 
for the communicants by acolytes or other 
ministers, or spread over the rails at the time 
of communion: used in the Roman Catholic 
Church and in some Anglican churches. Also 
called communion-cloth. [Archaic.] 
It Is not generally known that houseling cloths are still 
used [in the Church of England], but only in one place 
that I know of in England viz., in Wimborne Minster, 
where they are said to have been used continuously since 
its foundation in the reign of Edward the Confessor. 
Notes and Queries, 4th ser., IX. 318. 
house-lot (hous'lot), n. A piece of land on 
which to build a house ; a site for a house. 
housemaid (hous'mad), n. A female servant 
employed in general work about a house. 
You have two servants Tom, an arch, sly rogue, . . . 
He likes your house, your housemaid, and your pay. 
Camper, Truth, 1. 210. 
Housemaid's knee, an acute or chronic dropsical effu- 
sion between the skin and the bursa or sac over the knee- 
pan : so called because it was thought to be most com- 
mon among housemaids who had to work much upon 
their knees in scrubbing floors, etc. 
house-martin(hous'mar"'tin),. Same as house- 
swallow, 
house-master (hous'mas'ter), . 1. The mas- 
ter or head of a house or household. 
It may be confidently alleged that the Aryan House-mas- 
ter was the member of an organized clan under the presi- 
dency of a chief, and that he was also a member of a body 
of near kinsmen within that clan, by whatever name that 
body was called, and whether it had or had not a special 
president. W. E. Hearn, Aryan Household, p. 289. 
housewarm 
2. In English public schools, a master having 
supervision and control of the boys residing 
in one of the houses or halls belonging to the 
school. 
housemate (hous'mat), n. One who lives in 
the same house with another; a household 
companion. 
The pupil of manifold experiences, . . . who had known 
poverty as a housemate and had been the companion of 
princes. Lowell, Study Windows, p. 229. 
A stranger of reverend aspect entered, and with grave 
salutation stood before the two rather astonished hou.se- 
mates. Carlyle, Sartor Resartus, p. 56. 
housemonger (hous'mung"ger), n. One who 
deals in houses. [Rare.] 
Those speculative housemongers who are the worst fea- 
ture of the present system. 
Pall Wall Gazette, March 20, 1884. 
housemother (hous'mu*H"er), . [< Iiouse 1 + 
mother; after G. hausmutter = D. huismoeder = 
Dan. Sw. husmoder.] The mother of a family ; 
the female head of a household, or of a family 
community. 
The good Gretchen, for all her fretting, watched over 
. him and hovered round him as only a true housemother 
can. Carlyle, Sartor Kesartus, p. 56. 
housen (hou'zn), . An obsolete or provincial 
plural of housel. 
house-painter (hous'pan"ter), n. An artisan 
whose trade it is to paint and decorate houses. 
house-physician (hous'fi-zish'an), n. A phy- 
sician resident in a hospital or any similar pub- 
lic institution. 
house-pigeon (hous'pij"on), . A tame or do- 
mesticated pigeon. 
house-place (hous'plas), . The common room 
in a farm-house ; a living-room. [Prov. Eng.] 
It was well for the harmony of the evening that Bell 
and Sylvia returned from the kitchen to sit in the house- 
place. Sirs. Ga&kell, Sylvia's Lovers, iv. 
house-proud (hous'proud), a. Careful and busy 
as a housekeeper; vain of one's housekeeping. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
house-raising (hous'ra"zing), n. A gathering 
of the inhabitants in a thinly settled district to 
assist a neighbor in raising the frame of his 
house. [U. S.] 
house-room (hous'rom), . [= Dan. Sw. hus- 
rttm.~] Room or accommodation in a house. 
But go thy waies to him, and fro me say, 
That here is at his gate an errant Knight, 
That house-rome craves. Spenser, F. Q., VI. iii. 41. 
We found no Houses of Entertainment on the Road, yet 
at every Village we came we got House-room, and a Bar- 
becue of split Bambooes to sleep on. 
Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 90. 
house-shrew (hous'shro), n. A common Eu- 
ropean shrew, Crocidura aranea, found about 
houses and in gardens. 
house-snake (hous'snak), n. Same as chain- 
snake. 
house-sparrow (hous'spar"6), n. The common 
sparrow, Passer domesticus, a native of Europe, 
now introduced in many other countries, as in 
the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. 
In the United States it is commonly known as English 
sparrow, though most of the birds which have been im- 
ported into this country came from the continent of Eu- 
rope, particularly Germany. See cut under Passer. 
house-spider (hous'spi"der), . A spider com- 
monly found in houses, as Tegenaria domestica 
and Theridium vulgare, both of the family Tlie- 
ridiidce. 
housestead (hous'sted), n. Same as house- 
place. 
house-steward (hous'stu"iird), n. A man em- 
ployed to superintend the internal affairs of a 
household, or of a club-house or similar estab- 
lishment. 
house-surgeon (hous'ser"jon), n. The resident 
surgeon in a hospital. 
house-swallow (hous'swol"6), n. The common 
European swallow, Chelidon urbica. Also called 
eaves-swallow or easing-swallow, house-martin, 
etc. 
house-tax (hous'taks), n. Same as house-duty. 
housetop (hous'top), n. The roof or top of a 
house. 
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to 
take any thing out of his house. Mat. xxiv. 17. 
Every window and housetop was filled with spectators. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., It 12. 
house-Urn (hous'ern), . Same as hut-urn. 
housewarm (hous'warm), v. t. [Developed 
from housewaitning.] To feast or entertain, 
on entering upon the occupation of a new 
house. [Rare.] 
Novemberlst. tip, and was presented . . . withavery 
noble cake, which I presently resolved to have my wife go 
