house detective
- noun
- /haʊs dɪˈtɛktɪv/
- Archaic
- The chief duty of a house detective is to spot trouble in advance.
Examples
-
The desk clerk signaled for the house detective, who immediately responded to the call.
-
Could you call the house detective?
-
Since when have you become the local house detective?
-
The desk clerk signals for the house detective, who hurries across the lobby.
Fiction book (1991) -
The house detective watched closely as guests entered the store to prevent any theft.
-
In her role as a house detective, she had to intervene when suspicious behavior was noticed.
Synonyms
A police officer who investigates crimes and finds out what happened
A person hired to find facts about crimes or private matters who is not a police officer
A person who is not a police officer and is paid to investigate crimes
A person hired to find out information for someone, often about crimes
A person who investigates crimes and follows clues
A person hired to find missing people or information
A detective who works quietly and follows people to find facts
A person who works in a shop watching for people who steal and stopping them
A private detective a hotel or shop hires to find thieves
A person who works at a hotel to find thieves and keep guests safe
A private detective hired to find information for people or businesses
A person who carefully follows clues to solve mysteries
How Senior
- Archaic
- UK
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'house' (here meaning an establishment or firm) + 'detective' (an investigator) yields a detective employed by the establishment. This in‑house/firm + role pattern is common and cross‑linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
House detective comes from hotels and shops that kept a detective 'in the house' to watch guests and stop thieves. The image of house as the building and detective as the person who watches explains why the term now means 'a private detective working for a hotel or store to stop theft or watch for trouble'.