Crossword Genius

A place useless to abbreviate (5)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

house

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'a place' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'useless to abbreviate' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'useless' could be 'us' (abbreviation for unserviceable) and 'us' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'hoe' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for house that I've seen before include "See 1" , "Dwelling-place" , "Store" , "See 18" , "Dwelling, living quarters (5)" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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