A house is a building lived in by people. The word "house" may also refer to a building that shelters animals, especially in a zoo. [1]It generally has walls and a roof to shelter its enclosed space from precipitation, wind, heat, cold, and other elements. Domestic pets and "unwanted" animals (such as mice) often live in houses.
The social unit that lives in a house is known as a household. Most commonly,[citation needed] a household is a family unit of some kind, though households can be other social groups, such as single persons, or groups of unrelated individuals. Settled agrarian and industrial societies are composed of household units living permanently in housing of various types, according to a variety of forms of Land tenure. English-speaking people generally call any building they routinely occupy "home". Many people leave their house during the day for work and recreation but typically return to it to sleep or for other activities.
Humans have long treated and named favored shrines or temples as a "house of God", and religious buildings have inherited the role as a "house of prayer".[2] The term "madhouse" refers disparagingly to a mental hospital or insane asylum.[3]
As a verb, to house (pronounced [hæuz]) means, "to provide a locale for an object, a person or an organization". Museums, for example, can house historic or artistic artifacts. A storefront may house a business or an organization; an entity (a local authority, for example) may house a family in an apartment or other dwelling. City planners often refer to a collection of domiciles (either for persons, for organizations, for animals or for objects) as housing. An individual person or a single object might also find housing in an appropriate domicile.
The two words "house" and "home" have distinctly different meanings and connotations. "House" refers to the physical object, "home" has a more abstract and poetic connotation as the center of family life. Enlisted men during World War II used the phrase "A house is not a home"—in part to justify infidelity during wartime. On the other hand a stately home classifies as a house.Historical associations between extended families and their property (notably their house) can account for usage of the word "house" to mean a dynasty—a noble or royal house. Compare also household.
