housebreaking
housebreaking Lexical Profile
housebreaking Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American The process of training a domestic pet, such as a puppy or kitten, to urinate and defecate outside or in a designated litter box rather than indoors.
"Consistency and positive reinforcement are the most important factors in the successful housebreaking of a new puppy."
The criminal act of forcefully entering another person's building or dwelling with the intent to commit a crime or theft.
"The suspect was arrested and charged with two counts of housebreaking after witnesses spotted him prying open a back window."
• verb
North American To train a domestic pet to excrete outside the house or only in a designated area (present participle of housebreak).
"They spent the entire summer housebreaking their energetic golden retriever puppy."
Word Nuance & Usage
In American English, 'housebreaking' commonly refers to training a domestic pet to urinate and defecate outside (corresponding to British 'house-training'), whereas in British and Scots law it primarily denotes the crime of burglary.
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Formed as a compound of 'house' and 'breaking'; the criminal sense dates back to Old English 'husbryce' (burglary), while the pet-training sense arose in 20th-century American English by analogy with breaking in a horse.