house-sit

British

verb

to live in and look after a house during the absence of its owner or owners

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

house-sitter noun

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When her family went on trips, we would house-sit and spend days with their beautiful golden retriever — my sisters and I swam in the pool with Cooper until mami dragged us out.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 23, 2025

Mr. DePape would help her with her chickens and occasionally house-sit for her, she said.

From New York Times • Oct. 30, 2022

Former butcher Barry Parkes, 68, who lost his house, two vehicles and his Harley Davidson motorcycle, said friends had asked him to house-sit for them.

From Reuters • Jan. 16, 2020

After being hospitalized for a nervous breakdown, he emerges from a mental ward and travels to Los Angeles for an extended stay, to house-sit the lavish home of his much more successful younger brother.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 15, 2019

Since she used to house-sit for them, she knew she would feel comfortable in Glebewood.

From Washington Post • Nov. 1, 2017

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023