Dictionary

safe as houses en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Refererring to the investment value of property.

Meanings

1. (not-comparable, qualifier:simile) Very secure.
   • 1808, William Milton, "Memorial", Appendix 6A to Third Report from the Committee on the Highways of the Kingdon, House of Commons papers In objection to this Coach, it is urged by the Coachmen that it looks heavy; and that they had rather break a leg now and then than drive such an ugly thing; but it regularly makes part of their sarcasm, that "It is as safe as a house"
   • You could see where your money was, if you owned a house; it was safe, safe as houses, the very phrase, and you couldn't say safer than that unless you brought in the Bank of England which was too big altogether for the local men and their well-warmed nest eggs 1951, Jack Common, Kiddar's luck:
   • Yes'ir, I'm saved as safe as houses 1895, E. M. Stooke, Not Exactly, as cited in The English Dialect Dictionary: R-S, Volume 5, Joseph Wright, editor, 1904
   • The clothes will floor us as safe as houses! 1874, Thomas Hardy, chapter LVII, in Far from the Madding Crowd:
   • The owner of the weapon assured him that he was as safe as houses 1859, Kinahan Cornwallis, A panorama of the New World, volume I, page 79: