housemaster

American  

[hous-mas-ter, -mah-ster] / ˈhaʊsˌmæs tər, -ˌmɑ stər /

noun

1. a man who is in charge of a house or a dormitory in a private school for boys.

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housemaster British  

/ ˈhaʊsˌmɪstrɪs, ˈhaʊsˌmɑːstə /

noun

1. a teacher, esp in a boarding school, responsible for the pupils in his house

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Other Word Forms

• housemastership noun
• housemistress noun

Etymology

Origin of housemaster

First recorded in 1875–80; house + master

Example Sentences

At the time, Phelps was a deputy boarding housemaster, tutor and performing arts technician at the senior school for students aged 13 to 18.

From BBC • Mar. 22, 2026

They begin in 1945, when le Carré, whose real name was David Cornwell, is 14 years old, and writes to his future boarding-school housemaster to say he is looking forward to school.

From New York Times • Nov. 30, 2022

For one thing, he had the good fortune to be assigned to a housemaster, Arthur Goodhart, who was a lax disciplinarian and who thought that music was more important than sports.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 5, 2018

In 1954, he wrote to my mother and asked her to marry him, inviting her to join him in America as the wife of a Groton housemaster.

From The Guardian • Jan. 19, 2013

The housemaster was the delightful Reverend S. S. Mokitimi, who later became the first African president of the Methodist Church of South Africa.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela