play house

• playhouse

From play +‎ house.

play house (plural play houses)

1. A dollhouse.

   Synonym: doll's house

   Hypernyms: toy, house

2. A child's toy domestic dwelling, large enough for the child to enter.

   Synonyms: cubby house, toyhouse, Wendy house

3. Alternative form of playhouse (“theater for performing plays”)

play house (third-person singular simple present plays house, present participle playing house, simple past and past participle played house)

1. (children's games) To pretend to be a family in the household, acting out housekeeping and different family roles.

   They can keep all their things there and play house in their own way.

2. To live as if married without actually being legally married; cohabit
   • 1981, Emily Toth, Inside Peyton Place: the life of Grace Metalious, page 209:

     Though she flaunted her affair with TJ, Grace never admitted in print that she and George had “played house” before their marriage. Instead, she claimed they were married in 1942

   • 2009, Fisher Ellie Slott, Mom There's a Man in the Kitchen and He's Wearing Your Robe:

     Playing House Instead / There are times you may find it more appropriate to live with someone rather than rush into marriage.

   • 2010, Kim Stafford, Damage, page 122:

     I really don't like you playing house with the kids around. I don't want the kids to think that it's okay to live together without commitment.