What is "to bring down the house"

House \House\ (hous), n.; pl. Houses. [OE. hous, hus, AS. h?s; akin to OS. & OFries. h?s, D. huis, OHG. h?s, G. haus, Icel. h?s, Sw. hus, Dan. huus, Goth. gudh?s, house of God, temple; and prob. to E. hide to conceal. See Hide, and cf. Hoard, Husband, Hussy, Husting.]

1. A structure intended or used as a habitation or shelter for animals of any kind; but especially, a building or edifice for the habitation of man; a dwelling place, a mansion.

   Houses are built to live in; not to look on.
   --Bacon.

   Bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench Are from their hives and houses driven away.
   --Shak.

2. Household affairs; domestic concerns; particularly in the phrase to keep house. See below.

3. Those who dwell in the same house; a household.

   One that feared God with all his house.
   --Acts x. 2.

4. A family of ancestors, descendants, and kindred; a race of persons from the same stock; a tribe; especially, a noble family or an illustrious race; as, the house of Austria; the house of Hanover; the house of Israel.

   The last remaining pillar of their house, The one transmitter of their ancient name.
   --Tennyson.

5. One of the estates of a kingdom or other government assembled in parliament or legislature; a body of men united in a legislative capacity; as, the House of Lords; the House of Commons; the House of Representatives; also, a quorum of such a body. See Congress, and Parliament.

6. (Com.) A firm, or commercial establishment.

7. A public house; an inn; a hotel.

8. (Astrol.) A twelfth part of the heavens, as divided by six circles intersecting at the north and south points of the horizon, used by astrologers in noting the positions of the heavenly bodies, and casting horoscopes or nativities. The houses were regarded as fixed in respect to the horizon, and numbered from the one at the eastern horizon, called the ascendant, first house, or house of life, downward, or in the direction of the earth's revolution, the stars and planets passing through them in the reverse order every twenty-four hours.

9. A square on a chessboard, regarded as the proper place of a piece.

10. An audience; an assembly of hearers, as at a lecture, a theater, etc.; as, a thin or a full house.

11. The body, as the habitation of the soul.

    This mortal house I'll ruin, Do C[ae]sar what he can.
    --Shak.

12. Usage: [With an adj., as narrow, dark, etc.] The grave. ``The narrow house.''
    --Bryant.

    Note: House is much used adjectively and as the first element of compounds. The sense is usually obvious; as, house cricket, housemaid, house painter, housework.

    House ant (Zo["o]l.), a very small, yellowish brown ant ( Myrmica molesta), which often infests houses, and sometimes becomes a great pest.

    House of bishops (Prot. Epis. Ch.), one of the two bodies composing a general convertion, the other being House of Clerical and Lay Deputies.

    House boat, a covered boat used as a dwelling.

    House of call, a place, usually a public house, where journeymen connected with a particular trade assemble when out of work, ready for the call of employers. [Eng.]

    To bring down the house. See under Bring.

    To keep house, to maintain an independent domestic establishment.

    To keep open house, to entertain friends at all times.

    Syn: Dwelling; residence; abode. See Tenement.

Bring \Bring\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Brought; p. pr. & vb. n. Bringing.] [OE. bringen, AS. bringan; akin to OS. brengian, D. brengen, Fries. brenga, OHG. bringan, G. bringen, Goth. briggan.]

1. To convey to the place where the speaker is or is to be; to bear from a more distant to a nearer place; to fetch.

   And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread.
   --1 Kings xvii. 11.

   To France shall we convey you safe, And bring you back.
   --Shak.

2. To cause the accession or obtaining of; to procure; to make to come; to produce; to draw to.

   There is nothing will bring you more honor . . . than to do what right in justice you may.
   --Bacon.

3. To convey; to move; to carry or conduct.

   In distillation, the water . . . brings over with it some part of the oil of vitriol.
   --Sir I. Newton.

4. To persuade; to induce; to draw; to lead; to guide.

   It seems so preposterous a thing . . . that they do not easily bring themselves to it.
   --Locke.

   The nature of the things . . . would not suffer him to think otherwise, how, or whensoever, he is brought to reflect on them.
   --Locke.

5. To produce in exchange; to sell for; to fetch; as, what does coal bring per ton? To bring about, to bring to pass; to effect; to accomplish. To bring back.

   1. To recall.

   2. To restore, as something borrowed, to its owner. To bring by the lee (Naut.), to incline so rapidly to leeward of the course, when a ship sails large, as to bring the lee side suddenly to the windward, any by laying the sails aback, expose her to danger of upsetting. To bring down.

      1. To cause to come down.

      2. To humble or abase; as, to bring down high looks. To bring down the house, to cause tremendous applause. To bring forth.

         1. To produce, as young fruit.

         2. To bring to light; to make manifest. To bring forward

            1. To exhibit; to introduce; to produce to view.

            2. To hasten; to promote; to forward.

   3. To propose; to adduce; as, to bring forward arguments. To bring home.

      1. To bring to one's house.

      2. To prove conclusively; as, to bring home a charge of treason.

      3. To cause one to feel or appreciate by personal experience.

   4. (Naut.) To lift of its place, as an anchor. To bring in.

      1. To fetch from without; to import.

      2. To introduce, as a bill in a deliberative assembly.

      3. To return or repot to, or lay before, a court or other body; to render; as, to bring in a verdict or a report.

      4. To take to an appointed place of deposit or collection; as, to bring in provisions or money for a specified object.

   5. To produce, as income.

   6. To induce to join. To bring off, to bear or convey away; to clear from condemnation; to cause to escape. To bring on.

      1. To cause to begin.

      2. To originate or cause to exist; as, to bring on a disease. To bring one on one's way, to accompany, guide, or attend one. To bring out, to expose; to detect; to bring to light from concealment. To bring over.

         1. To fetch or bear across.

         2. To convert by persuasion or other means; to cause to change sides or an opinion. To bring to.

            1. To resuscitate; to bring back to consciousness or life, as a fainting person.

            2. (Naut.) To check the course of, as of a ship, by dropping the anchor, or by counterbracing the sails so as to keep her nearly stationary (she is then said to lie to).

      3. To cause (a vessel) to lie to, as by firing across her course.

      4. To apply a rope to the capstan. To bring to light, to disclose; to discover; to make clear; to reveal. To bring a sail to (Naut.), to bend it to the yard. To bring to pass, to accomplish to effect. ``Trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.'' --Ps. xxxvii. 5. To bring under, to subdue; to restrain; to reduce to obedience. To bring up.

         1. To carry upward; to nurse; to rear; to educate.

         2. To cause to stop suddenly.

         3. Note: [v. i. by dropping the reflexive pronoun] To stop suddenly; to come to a standstill. [Colloq.]

            To bring up (any one) with a round turn, to cause (any one) to stop abruptly. [Colloq.]

            To be brought to bed. See under Bed.

            Syn: To fetch; bear; carry; convey; transport; import; procure; produce; cause; adduce; induce.