What does this sentence/idiom/phrase mean?

Question

I saw a sentence in a book:

When George heard that the meal was on the house, he went to thank the restaurant owner for the free food.

The sentence does not make sense to me. I tried Google translating to other languages, but did not work as well.
Is there a specific idiom or phrase that I'm not familiar with?
Can anyone help me with this?

marcellothearcane · Accepted Answer

"On the house" means that you are given something for free, that you would usually pay for.

(of a drink or meal in a bar or restaurant) at the management's expense; free.

Lexico
You can think of the sentence like this:

When George heard that the meal was on the house given to him for free by the owner, he went to thank the restaurant owner for the free food.

What does this sentence/idiom/phrase mean?

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