housebreaker

[ hous-brey-ker ]

/ ˈhaʊsˌbreɪ kər /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR housebreaker ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who breaks into and enters a house with a felonious intent.

British.

a worker or wrecking company that demolishes houses and buildings, as to make room for new construction.
a person who buys doors, paneled walls, etc., from standing houses, to sell as antiques; a person who dismantles a house of its valuable parts before it is torn down.

Origin of housebreaker

1275–1325; Middle English. See house, breaker¹

OTHER WORDS FROM housebreaker

housebreaking, noun

Words nearby housebreaker

houseboat, housebound, houseboy, house brand, housebreak, housebreaker, housebreaking, housebroken, house call, housecarl, housecat

Example sentences from the Web for housebreaker

I run up to the window, I see the Rebbe is really in the room, he is walking up and down, I am about to enter like a housebreaker.
Stories and Pictures|Isaac Loeb Peretz
In a large number of cases the servants are only the unconscious instrument in the hands of the housebreaker.
Curiosities of Civilization|Andrew Wynter
What the housebreaker saw was a vision of dazzling beauty in a flood of light.
M. or N. "Similia similibus curantur."|G.J. Whyte-Melville
The following life of a thief and housebreaker, written by himself, is curious and sad.
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events|S. Baring-Gould

Easy, then—the window being left open—for some midnight housebreaker from the street to have come in and attacked him.
Mrs. Halliburton's Troubles|Mrs. Henry Wood