White House
176
1.9
- proper noun
- /waɪt haʊs/
:
Casa Blanca
- - Dinner at the White House.
- the White House in Washington
- the White House Office
She could show up at the White House in the tiger tail and ears.
- She could show up at the White House in the tiger tail and ears.
- OK, so he invited us to the White House.
- So we get in the car, we go to the White House.
- He may give his talents at the courthouse, the State House, the White House.
- Couple of days after that, it's a Friday and he's walking from the South Portico of the White House to the helicopter to go to Camp David.
- So that's when Trump decided to do the infomercial and expand his online flea market to a car dealership on the White House lawn.
- No, I well, we believe it's through a mutual friend, like, you know, because my mom handles the online store and she's never shipped to the White House.
- President Clinton had announced the success in a White House press conference the preceding June, well before the actual scientific publication.
- If she's elected president, the White House will smell like Curry and there will be a call center that nobody understands for complaints by Americans.
Examples
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I'm at the White House with General Kramer.
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Each year, the White House hosts an annual Easter egg roll on its lawn.
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We are guests of honor at the White House, man!
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But another President could be in the White House when he died.
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These are from the White House.
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Are we going to the White House?
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As of now, I am in control here, in the White House.
Academic text (2014) -
Yes, it's quite a thing to have a typical American family in the White House again, Mrs. Johnson.
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I'd booked a room at a hotel across the street from the White House.
Fiction book (1994) -
I am in the White House and we're here to celebrate Filipino History Month.
Surface Forms
Morphology
White + house
Literally, the phrase is composed of 'white' + 'house', so a learner would readily infer a house that is white. However, the conventionalized proper-name use referring to the U.S. presidential residence and metonymically to the administration is not predictable from the constituents without cultural/political knowledge or prior exposure. Because the literal sense is transparent but the institutional/metonymic meaning is conventional and requires learning, the expression is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
White House got its name from the building's colour: long ago the President's large official house was painted white, so people began to call it the 'White House'. That's why the name refers to the President's official home and workplace today.