household

From Middle English houshold, equivalent to house +‎ hold. Cognate with Scots houshald, housald, housell, howsell (“household”), Dutch huishouden (“household”), German Haushalt (“household”), Swedish hushåll (“household, family”), Norwegian husholdning (“household”).

• (UK): IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊshəʊld/
• (US): enPR: housʹhōld, IPA^(key): /ˈhaʊshoʊld/

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household (plural households)

1. Collectively, all the persons who live in a given house; a family including attendants, servants etc.; a domestic or family establishment.
   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 5:

     Although I was a member of the royal household, I was not among the privileged few who were trained for rule.

   • Jonathan Swift

     And calls, without affecting airs, / His household twice a day to prayers.

2. (obsolete) A line of ancestry; a race or house.
   • 1592, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 1, IV. vi. 39:

     In thee thy mother dies, our household's name, / My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame.

household (not comparable)

1. Belonging to the same house and family.
2. Found in or having its origin in a home.
3. Widely known to the public; familiar.

   a household word; a household name