Dictionary

housetop en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈhaʊsˌtɒp/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈhaʊsˌtɑp/ (Canada, General-American)

Etymology

From house + top.

Meanings

1. The roof of a house.
   • Not only did the distance to the The Pure Drop, the fully-licensed tavern at the further part of the dispersed village, render its accommodation practically unavailable for dwellers at this end; but the far more serious question, the quality of the liquor, confirmed the prevalent opinion that it was better to drink with Rolliver in a corner of the housetop than with the other landlord in a wide house. 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, volume 1, London: James R. Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., page 41:
   • Up on the housetop, reindeer pause. / Out jumps good old Santa Claus. c. 1860, Benjamin R. Hamby, Up on the Housetop:
   • 26 Feare them not therefore: for there is nothing couered, that shall not be reueiled; and hidde, that shall not be knowen. 27 What I tell you in darkenesse, that speake yee in light: and what yee heare in the eare, that preach yee vpon the house tops. 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 10:26–27:

Forms

Deriveds

cry from the housetop

Translations (2)

de Hausdach (The roof of a house) · bg покрив (The roof of a house)