habitation

habitation

English

Etymology

From Middle English habitacioun, from Old French habitacion, abitacion (“act of dwelling”), from Latin habitātiōnem, accusative of Latin habitātiō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌhæb.ɪˈteɪ.ʃən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

habitation (countable and uncountable, plural habitations)

1. (uncountable) The act of inhabiting; state of inhabiting or dwelling, or of being inhabited; occupancy.
   • 1651, Thomas Hobbes, chapter 24, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], OCLC 895063360:

     And there have been Common-wealths that having no more Territory, than hath served them for habitation, have neverthelesse, not onely maintained, but also encreased their Power, partly by the labour of trading from one place to another, and partly by selling the Manifactures, whereof the Materials were brought in from other places.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], OCLC 228722708; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554:

     Witness this new-made world, another Heaven
     From Heaven-gate not far, founded in view
     On the clear hyaline, the glassy sea;
     Of amplitude almost immense, with stars
     Numerous, and every star perhaps a world
     Of destined habitation […]

   • 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter 10, in Rob Roy. […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, OCLC 82790126:

     The few miserable hovels that showed some marks of human habitation, were now of still rarer occurrence; and at length, as we began to ascend an uninterrupted swell of moorland, they totally disappeared.

   • 1907, G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday, Chapter 12,

     Now, however, the windows in the houses began one by one to be lit up, giving a greater sense of habitation and humanity.

2. (countable) A place of abode; settled dwelling; residence; house.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:

     And as imagination bodies forth
     The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
     Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
     A local habitation and a name.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Exodus 35:3:

     Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book 6:

     Mrs Deborah, having disposed of the child according to the will of her master, now prepared to visit those habitations which were supposed to conceal its mother.

   • c. 1806–1809 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book the Fifth. The Pastor.”, in The Excursion, being a Portion of The Recluse, a Poem, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […], published 1814, OCLC 1108654590, page 219:

     How gay the Habitations that adorn
     This fertile Valley! Not a House but seems
     To give assurance of content within;

   • 1948, Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country, New York: Scribner, 1987, Chapter 10,

     And this is Shanty Town, my friend. ¶ Even here the children laugh in the narrow lanes that run between these tragic habitations.

3. A group, lodge, or company, as of the Primrose League.
4. (Louisiana French) A farm.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:abode

Translations

the act of inhabitating

Bulgarian: обитаване n (obitavane) Dutch: bewoning (nl) f Esperanto: please add this translation if you can Finnish: asuminen (fi), oleskeleminen (fi) Galician: please add this translation if you can German: Wohnen (de) n Hungarian: tartózkodás (hu), lakás (hu) Icelandic: ívera f Ido: habito (io) Plautdietsch: Wonunk f Polish: zamieszkiwanie (pl) n Portuguese: habitação (pt) f Russian: прожива́ние (ru) n (proživánije), обита́ние (ru) n (obitánije) Scottish Gaelic: còmhnaidh f Spanish: asentamiento (es) m, poblamiento m, ocupación (es) f Tagalog: tirahan Ukrainian: ме́шкання n (méškannja), прожива́ння n (prožyvánnja)

a place of abode

Bulgarian: жилище (bg) n (žilište) Finnish: asunto (fi), asuinpaikka (fi) German: Behausung (de) f Hungarian: lakóhely (hu), tartózkodási hely Icelandic: bústaður (is) m, dvalarstaður (is) m Irish: aicíocht f Lao: please add this translation if you can Low German: German Low German: Hüsung f Middle English: herberwe Polish: domostwo (pl) n Portuguese: habitação (pt) f Russian: жильё (ru) n (žilʹjó), ме́сто жи́тельства n (mésto žítelʹstva), жили́ще (ru) n (žilíšče) Sanskrit: गृह (sa) m (gṛha), परिष्ठिति (sa) f (pariṣṭhiti) Scottish Gaelic: còmhnaidh f, ionad-còmhnaidh m Spanish: morada (es) f, residencia (es) f, casa (es) f Thai: บ้านเรือน (th) (bâan reuan), บ้านช่อง (bâan-chɔ̂ng) Ukrainian: поме́шкання (uk) n (poméškannja)

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French

Pronunciation

• ^{(mute h)} IPA^(key): /a.bi.ta.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France, Paris)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔ̃
• Homophone: habitations

Noun

habitation f (plural habitations)

1. dwelling (a place or house in which a person lives)
2. inhabitation (act of inhabiting)
3. (Louisiana) farm, plantation, ranch

Further reading

• “habitation”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.