Idioms about the House: A house is a one-of-a-kind construction. A house is a spot where you may unwind. A family builds a house together and renders a feeling of belonging. A home gives us a sense of togetherness with your family and you that they will always be there for you.
A home is a place where one not only feels at peace but also looks forward to living in on a daily basis. A home is formed not with walls or cement but with the ties of family, and recognizing words with house in them solidifies your understanding.
Even if you previously remember the 100 most common idioms, mastering these phrases using the word home can broaden your vocabulary and give you an edge in discussions.
Enrich your Vocabulary by practicing the English Idioms that are commonly used in everyday conversations and understand their actual meaning.
No matter what one is dealing with, no matter how awful life seems, there will always be someone caring for them at home. So, we have compiled a list of home idioms and phrases that you can add to your list of 100 idioms and meanings and incorporate it into your lexicon.
Name of House Idioms
List of House Idioms
- A house of cards
- A house divided cannot stand
- A plague on both your houses
- As safe as houses
- Basket house
- Be home and dry
- Build castles in the air
- Bottom the house
- Charity begins at home
- Chickens will/have come home to roost
- Close to home
- Eat out of house and home
- Everything but the kitchen sink
- Fox guarding the henhouse/in the henhouse
- Get a foot on the housing ladder
- Get on like a house on fire
- Get your own house in order
- Go out the window
- Go round the houses
- Halfway house
- Have a roof over your head
- Hit the roof
- Home away from home
- Home in on
- Home is where the heart is
- Home sweet home
- House of correction
- House of many doors
- Lead (someone) up the garden path
- Make yourself at home
- Not a dry eye in the house
- People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones
- Ram (something) home
- Skeleton in the closet
- Smoke like a chimney
- There’s no place like home
- Till the cows come home
- Throw in the towel
- Throw money down the drain
- To bring something home to someone
- To drive something home
- Wear the pants in the house
Meaning and Examples of some commonly used House Idioms
A house of cards
Meaning: A flimsy or fragile arrangement or scheme.
Example: The entire project was based on a house of cards, which was sure to collapse.
A house divided cannot stand
Meaning: Internal strifes seriously undermine a company or organization, rendering it incapable of sustaining external pressures.
Example: We must immediately recognize that a divided house cannot stand, so we must enhance our communications.
A plague on both your houses
Meaning: A dying character condemns two families for bringing so much misery.
Example: She was indeed a plague on both your houses.
As safe as houses
Meaning: Totally risk-free.
Example: You can completely trust us, and your secrets are as safe as houses with us.
Basket house
Meaning: A café or comparable entity where musical acts are performed, and audience members tip the performers by placing money in a basket.
Example: I heard of an excellent basket house in my neighbourhood, and you are welcome to join.
Be home and dry
Meaning: To have managed to complete something satisfactorily.
Example: We’re finally home and dry, and the assessment was on hold for quite some time.
Build castles in the air
Meaning: To make aspirations, expectations, or goals that are either completely unattainable, unreasonable, or unlikely to achieve.
Example: Rather than lazing around and building castles in your hair, you should do something productive with your time.
Bottom the house
Meaning: To meticulously clean home from beginning to end.
Example: The most challenging part of festival preparations is needing to bottom the house, which is extremely tiresome.
Charity begins at home
Meaning: The requirements of one’s family members and friends are a person’s prime obligation.
Example: Rather than squandering money without self-restraint, he should investigate his parents’ precarious situation; charity begins at home.
Chickens will/have come home to roost
Meaning: Things that a person has done previously have returned to haunt them or torment them.
Example: His deceptive activity will never go completely unnoticed, and he should prepare to bear the consequences one day since the chicken will come home to roost.
Close to home
Meaning: Having a personal effect on someone, particularly in a fashion that makes them feel uncomfortable or disturbed.
Example: We had no idea the jokes were hitting close to home for him since he never responded in that manner and just carried on as usual.
Eat out of house and home
Meaning: To devour so much of someone’s food supply that there is very little food available for the owner.
Example: I’m pretty sure our dog will eat us out of house and home at some point.
Everything but the kitchen sink
Meaning: A multitude of items, several of which are entirely superfluous.
Example: It’s no surprise to learn they packed six suitcases for the excursion; they brought everything but the kitchen sink.
Fox guarding the henhouse/in the henhouse
Meaning: A set of events where somebody we shouldn’t entrust is assigned to safeguard or supervise someone or something.
Example: I’m curious to know why they picked him as their party’s head; he only recently joined from their rival party; such a classic example of the fox guarding the henhouse.
Get a foot on the housing ladder
Meaning: A sequence of land ownership phases in which you initially purchase a little property or apartment, then improve to a larger or more expensive one once you have sufficient funds.
Example: Their business sought to provide the correct information to those looking to buy their first property and get a foot on the housing ladder.
Get on like a house on fire
Meaning: Fast or ferociously.
Example: It was a little alarming how he was going about his business, like a house on fire.
Get your own house in order.
Meaning: Before advising someone else how to handle their difficulties, they must first address their own.
Example: Please get your own house in order before participating in my internal affairs.
Go out the window
Meaning: Ceases to exist.
Example: When the teacher began calling out the names of the violators, I could sense the unity going out the window.
Go round the houses
Meaning: To squander time and energy by addressing pointless nonsense before arriving at the goal.
Example: Please, someone tell her to stop going round the houses and go directly to the point; we’re racing against the clock.
Halfway house
Meaning: A progression’s the halfway stage.
Example: We’re just at the halfway house of the process of obtaining the necessary permits to build our home.
Have a roof over your head
Meaning: A place to call home.
Example: It was heartbreaking to read that many families had lost a roof of their heads due to the major hurricane.
Hit the roof
Meaning: Become enraged all of a sudden.
Example: I was perplexed as to why he suddenly hit the roof in the middle of the meal.
Home away from home
Meaning: A place where someone does not live but remains as at complete ease as they would in their own home.
Example: They made my hostel seem like a home away from home.
Home in on
Meaning: To reach a conclusion.
Example: The cops were only a few minutes away from home in on the truth.
Home is where the heart is
Meaning: No matter where you are, your house will still be the place where you have the most robust emotional attachment.
Example: After spending so much time away from home, I realized that home is where the heart is.
Home sweet home
Meaning: When one is happy or delighted to be in or return to one’s own home, this term is used.
Example: After a tough day at work, I was delighted to return to my home sweet home.
House of correction
Meaning: A place where miscreants and petty criminals were detained and made to work.
Example: As the safest alternative, he was sent to the house of correction.
House of many doors
Meaning: A prison.
Example: He had been in the house of many doors for years, and when he was finally liberated, everything seemed new to him.
Lead (someone) up the garden path
Meaning: Give someone incorrect signals or suggestions.
Example: When I found out Rai was leading me up the garden path, I wasn’t shocked at all.
Make yourself at home
Meaning: To unwind and make oneself at home in someone else’s space.
Example: Alexis needed a moment to make himself at home in the new surroundings.
Not a dry eye in the house
Meaning: Tears well up in the eyes of everyone in the auditorium or performance venue.
Example: There was not a dry eye in the house when he killed the character at the end of the movie.
People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones
Meaning: People with flaws should not judge others for having deficiencies of their own.
Example: He was invariably making fun of Raj because of his failing grades, and we had to remind him that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
Ram (something) home
Meaning: To firmly make (something) self-evident and evident.
Example: He attempted to ram home the necessity of having a backup plan.
Skeleton in the closet
Meaning: A humiliating truth that someone seeks to suppress so that no one else learns about it.
Example: There is a skeleton in the closet of most royal families.
Smoke like a chimney
Meaning: Someone who is a regular and robust smoker.
Example: It’s probably time for you to give up smoking like a chimney.
There’s no place like home.
Meaning: Home is the best and the most comfortable place.
Example: They rightly said there’s no place like home after a bad day.
Till the cows come home
Meaning: For a long period of time.
Example: I’m not sure what prompted you to decide to linger at the movie theatre till the cows came home.
Throw in the towel
Meaning: Give up a fight and accept failure.
Example: He was already on the verge of throwing in the towel since the conditions were too harsh for him to bear.
Throw money down the drain
Meaning: To squander money by spending it on something that isn’t essential.
Example: With each day, he convinces his parents that they have just thrown money down the drain for his schooling since he refuses to put up even the tiniest effort to study.
To bring something home to someone
Meaning: To take something home for somebody, such as a present or a treat.
Example: I was sure that my father would bring chocolates home to me from his trip abroad.
To drive something home
Meaning: Using frequent or intensely explicit explanations, make something plainly obvious and widely understood.
Example: To make it clear and drive it home, he repeated the detailed instructions three times.
Wear the pants in the house
Meaning: In a home, exert command authority.
Example: Even if I have to wear the pants in the house, I’m okay with it as long as we don’t go completely bankrupt.