house of cards

1. A card-castle, cards built up into storeys
2. Any flimsy or precarious structure, scheme, etc

keep or play one's cards close to one's chest

To conceal one's full intentions

knowing card

Someone who is astute, sharp or wide awake

leading card

A strong point in one's case

make a card

To win a trick in a card game

on the cards

1. Not improbable
2. Likely to happen

play one's cards well or right (or badly)

1. To make (or not to make) the best of one's chances
2. To act (or not to act) in a way that will bring one benefit or advantage

play one's strongest or trump card

To make use of one's greatest advantage

show (all) one's cards

To expose one's secrets or designs, esp when giving an advantage to someone else by so doing

speak by the card

To speak with precision and to the point

sure card

Someone who is wide awake

the cards are stacked against (someone or something)

The circumstances, or facts, are ranged against (a person, an argument, etc)

throw up (or in) the cards

1. To give in
2. To admitdefeat

house /hows/

noun (pl houses /howzˈiz/)

1. A building for living in
2. A building in general
3. A dwelling-place
4. An inn
5. A public house
6. A household
7. A family in line of descent
8. Kindred
9. A trading establishment
10. One of the twelve divisions of the heavens in astrology
11. A legislative or deliberative body or its meeting-place
12. A convent
13. A school boarding house
14. The pupils belonging to it (collectively)
15. A section of a school
16. An audience, auditorium or performance
17. The workhouse (old informal)
18. The circle around the tee within which stones must lie to count (curling)
19. (the House) at Oxford, Christ Church (Aedes Christi), in London, the Stock Exchange or the Houses of Parliament
20. Bingo, esp when played for money (esp army sl)
21. (usu with cap) house music (qv below)

adjective

1. Domestic
2. Of a restaurant, hotel, etc or its management, as in house rules
3. (of wine) unnamed and cheaper than those listed on a menu, etc by name or region

transitive verb /howz/

1. To protect by covering
2. To shelter
3. To store
4. To provide houses for

intransitive verb

1. To take shelter
2. To reside

interjection /hows/

An exclamation made by the first player to finish a game of bingo

houseˈful noun (pl houseˈfuls)

houseˈless adjective

1. Without a house or home
2. Having no shelter

housˈey adjective

Typical of house music (qv below)

housing /howˈzing/ noun

1. Houses, accommodation or shelter, or the provision of any of these (also adjective)
2. A cavity into which a timber fits
3. Anything designed to cover, protect or contain machinery, etc
4. A housing joint (see below)

house agent noun

A person who arranges the buying, selling and letting of houses

house arrest noun

Confinement, under guard, to one's house, or to a hospital, etc instead of imprisonment

houseˈboat noun

A barge with a deck-cabin that may serve as a dwelling-place

houseˈ-bote noun (law)

A tenant's right to wood to repair his or her house

houseˈbound adjective

Confined to one's house, eg because of illness, responsibilities towards young children, etc

houseˈboy noun

A male domestic servant, esp in Africa or India

houseˈbreaker noun

1. A person who breaks into and enters a house for the purpose of stealing
2. Someone whose work is demolishing old houses

houseˈbreaking noun

houseˈ-broken adjective

House-trained

house call noun

A visit made by a professional person, esp a doctor, to a client or patient at home

houseˈ-carl noun (historical)

A member of a king's or noble's bodyguard

house church or house group noun

A group of Christians meeting, usu in a house, for worship, prayer, Bible study, etc, usu in addition to Sunday church worship

houseˈcoat noun

A woman's usu long coatlike dressing-gown, worn at home

houseˈcraft noun

Skill in domestic activities

houseˈ-dog noun

1. A dog kept in a house
2. A watchdog

houseˈ-dūty or houseˈ-tax noun

A tax laid on inhabited houses

houseˈ-factor noun (Scot)

A house agent

houseˈ-father noun

1. The male head of a household or community
2. A man in charge of children in an institution

house flag noun

The distinguishing flag of a shipowner or shipping company

houseˈfly noun

The common fly

house group see house church above.

house guest noun

A guest in a private house

houseˈhold noun

1. Those who are held together in the same house, and compose a family
2. A single person living alone or a group of people living together (economics)

adjective

1. Relating to the house and family
2. Well-known to the general public, as in household name, household word

Household Cavalry noun

The two cavalry regiments, the Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards, responsible for guarding the British sovereign

houseˈholder noun

The holder or tenant of a house

household gods see under god, lar, penates

household suffrage or household franchise noun

The right of householders to vote for members of parliament

household troops plural noun

Guards regiments whose particular duty is to attend the sovereign and defend the metropolis

household word noun

A familiar saying or name

houseˈ-hunt intransitive verb

To look for a house to live in

houseˈ-hunter noun

houseˈ-hunting noun

houseˈ-husband noun

A married man or live-in male partner who looks after the house and family and does not have a paid job

houseˈkeeper noun

1. A person employed to run a household
2. A person who has the chief care of a house
3. Someone who stays much at home (archaic)
4. A dispenser of hospitality (obsolete)
5. A watchdog (obsolete)

houseˈkeeping noun

1. The keeping or management of a house or of domestic affairs
2. The money used for this
3. Hospitality (obsolete)
4. Operations carried out on or within a computer program to ensure the efficient functioning of the program

adjective

Domestic

house leek noun

A plant (Sempervivum tectorum) of the stonecrop family with succulent leaves, often growing on roofs

house lights plural noun (theatre)

The lights illuminating the auditorium

houseˈ-line noun (nautical)

A small line of three strands, for seizings, etc

house longhorn beetle see longhorn under long¹

houseˈmaid noun

A maid employed to keep a house clean, etc

housemaid's knee noun

An inflammation of the sac between the kneecap and the skin, to which those whose work involves frequent kneeling are especially liable

houseˈman noun

A house officer (qv below)

house martin noun

A kind of black-and-white swallow (Delichon urbica) with a slightly forked tail, often building its nest on a house wall

houseˈmaster or houseˈmistress noun

(in schools) the male or female head of a (boarding-)house, esp in connection with a public school

houseˈ-mate noun

One person sharing a house with another

houseˈ-mother noun

1. The mother of a family, the female head of a family
2. A woman in charge of children in an institution

house mouse noun

A brownish-grey mouse (Mus musculus) that is a pest in human houses

house music noun

(also with cap) a type of electronically produced dance music with a strong 4–4 beat, often incorporating edited fragments of other recordings

house of call noun

1. A house where the journeymen of a particular trade call when out of work
2. A house that one often visits

house of cards noun

A situation, etc that is as unstable as a pile of playing cards

House of Commons see under common

house of correction noun

A jail

house officer noun

A recent graduate in medicine holding a junior resident post in a hospital

house of God, house of prayer or house of worship noun

A place of worship

house of ill fame or house of ill repute noun

A brothel

House of Keys see under Keys

House of Lords see under lord

House of Peers see under peer¹

House of Representatives see under represent

houseˈparent noun

A man or woman in charge of children in an institution

house party noun

A company of guests spending some days in a private house, esp one in the country

house plant noun

A plant that can be grown indoors as decoration

houseˈ-proud adjective

Taking a pride (often an excessive and fussy pride) in the condition of one's house

houseˈroom noun

Room or place in a house (also figurative)

houseˈ-sit intransitive verb

houseˈ-sitting noun

Looking after a house by living in it while the owner is away, on holiday, etc

house sparrow see under sparrow

houseˈ-steward noun

A steward who manages the household affairs of a great family

house style noun

The particular forms of type, layout, presentation, etc preferred by a publisher or other business

house surgeon noun

A resident surgeon in a hospital (also house physician)

house-tax see house-duty above.

houseˈ-to-houseˈ adjective

Performed or conducted by calling at house after house

houseˈtop noun

The top or roof of a house

houseˈ-train transitive verb

houseˈ-trained adjective

1. (of animals) taught to urinate and defecate outdoors, or in a place provided for the purpose
2. (of human beings) clean and well-mannered (facetious)

houseˈ-warming noun

A party given after moving into a new house

housewife /howsˈwīf, formerly huzˈif/ noun

1. The mistress and manager of a house
2. A married woman who looks after the house and family and does not have a paid job
3. /huzˈif/ a pocket sewing-outfit

houseˈwifely adjective

housewifery /howsˈwif-ri, -wīf-ri or huzˈif-ri/ noun

houseˈwifeship or (Scot) houseˈwifeskep noun

houseˈwork noun

Domestic work

houseˈy-houseˈy noun

A game in which numbers are drawn at random and marked off on players' boards until one is clear (now usu called bingo)

housing association noun

A non-profit-making organization that owns, maintains and lets houses at reasonable rents

housing estate noun

A planned residential area, esp one built by a local authority

housing joint noun

A joint where the end of one board fits into a groove cut across another board

housing scheme noun

1. A plan for the designing, building and provision of houses, esp by a local authority
2. Sometimes applied to an area coming under such a plan

bring the house down

To evoke very loud applause in a place of entertainment

full house see under full¹

House or Council of States

The upper house of the Indian parliament

House of the People

The lower house of the Indian parliament

Inner House

The higher branch of the Court of Session, its jurisdiction chiefly appellate (Outer House the lower branch of the Court of Session)

keep a good house

To keep up a plentifully supplied table

keep house

To maintain or manage an establishment

keep open house

To give entertainment to all comers

keep the house

1. To remain indoors
2. To take charge of the house or be on watch for the time being
3. To be confined to the house

like a house on fire (or afire)

1. With astonishing rapidity
2. Very well or successfully

on the house

1. (of drinks) at the publican's expense
2. Free, with no charge

put or set one's house in order

To settle one's affairs

set up house

To start a domestic life of one's own

the Household

The royal domestic establishment