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definitions

housebroken

[ hous-broh-kuh n ]
/ ˈhaʊsˌbroʊ kən /
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR housebroken ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

(of a pet) trained to avoid excreting inside the house or in improper places.

RELATED WORDS

subdued, gentle, harmless, mild, docile, manageable, pilfer, kidnap, swipe, remove, keep, plunder, take, strip, embezzle, loot, abduct, divert, ransack, subdue

Nearby words

  1. housebound,
  2. houseboy,
  3. housebreak,
  4. housebreaker,
  5. housebreaking,
  6. housecarl,
  7. housecat,
  8. houseclean,
  9. housecleaning,
  10. housecoat

Origin of housebroken

First recorded in 1895–1900; house + broken

housebreak

[ hous-breyk ]
/ ˈhaʊsˌbreɪk /

verb (used with object), house·broke, house·bro·ken, house·break·ing.

to train (a pet) to excrete outdoors or in a specific place.

Origin of housebreak

First recorded in 1895–1900; house + break
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for housebroken

  • This is a quickie Rum Tum Tiddy, without any onion, a poor, housebroken version of the original.

    The Complete Book of Cheese|Robert Carlton Brown

  • Of course, it'll be harder gettin' 'em housebroken if you don't let 'em into the house, but I'll guarantee you'll do it.

    The Dogs of Boytown|Walter A. Dyer
Word Origin and History for housebroken

housebreak

v.

1820, "to break into a house criminally;" see house (n.) + break (v.). Perhaps a back-formation from housebreaker, attested from mid-14c. Sense of "to train a domestic animal to be clean in the house" is from 1881. Related: Housebreaking; housebroken.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper