Question

Bring Down the House to get an audience to clap enthusiastically or laugh loudly

Accepted Answer

When our principal came out on stage dressed like a North High student, she brought down the house. This saying, which comes from the theater, has been in common use since the 1700s. Performers have long referred to the audience in a theater, and the theater itself, as the "house." When a performer is a huge success, and the excited audience is cheering, laughing, and applauding so wildly that the roof of the theater seems to be shaking and about to fall in, he or she has "brought down the house."

Idiom	Bring Down the House
Example	When our principal came out on stage dressed like a North High student, she brought down the house.
Meaning	to get an audience to clap enthusiastically or laugh loudly
Origin	This saying, which comes from the theater, has been in common use since the 1700s. Performers have long referred to the audience in a theater, and the theater itself, as the "house." When a performer is a huge success, and the excited audience is cheering, laughing, and applauding so wildly that the roof of the theater seems to be shaking and about to fall in, he or she has "brought down the house."

Audience House Theater Bring Principal Stage Dressed North