household god

American  

noun

1. a god presiding over and protecting the home, especially in the religion of ancient Rome.

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Etymology

Origin of household god

First recorded in 1605–15

Example Sentences

There are countless ways to know something, or someone, without firsthand evidence, and Alice, as familiar as a household god and as remote as a child star, is a prime case of cultural osmosis.

From The New Yorker • Jun. 1, 2015

Where Mr. Cassagnes’s original had been operated with a joystick, the final version mimicked the look of the reigning household god of the day — the television set.

From New York Times • Feb. 4, 2013

So is Schumacher then a household god in Downing Street?

From The Guardian • Mar. 27, 2011

As editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, he has tilted his pen at almost every Southern household god.

From Time Magazine Archive

He wrote letters to doctors in England, spent his evenings reading casebooks at the library, gave up eating meat on Fridays in order to appease his household god.

From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri