Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land.
  • noun Law Property qualifying as a person's home under certain laws, such as laws providing tax abatements and exemptions, survivorship rights for spouse and children, and immunity from claims of creditors.
  • noun Land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act.
  • noun The place where one's home is.
  • intransitive verb To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act.
  • intransitive verb To claim and settle (land) as a homestead.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A family's dwelling-place, with the inclosure or ground immediately contiguous; an abode; a home.
  • noun In law, real property owned by the head of a family and occupied by the family as a home.
  • noun Native seat; station or place of residence.
  • noun Same as Homestead Act.
  • To acquire as one's established homestead or residence.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The home place; a home and the inclosure or ground immediately connected with it.
  • noun The home or seat of a family; place of origin.
  • noun (Law) The home and appurtenant land and buildings owned by the head of a family, and occupied by him and his family.
  • noun [U.S.] Also, a designation of an Act of Congress authorizing and regulating the sale of public lands, in parcels of 160 acres each, to actual settlers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm
  • noun the place that is one's home
  • noun South Africa A cluster of several houses occupied by an extended family
  • verb To acquire or settle on land as a homestead.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun land acquired from the United States public lands by filing a record and living on and cultivating it under the homestead law
  • verb settle land given by the government and occupy it as a homestead
  • noun the home and adjacent grounds occupied by a family
  • noun dwelling that is usually a farmhouse and adjoining land

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word homestead.

Examples

  • These are what I called "homestead crafts" because they were similar to things we did in homestead days.

    Another Box 2009

  • I call it homestead because we used every available box and piece of cardboard from everything that came into the house, to make things with, when we were growing up on the homestead.

    Archive 2009-03-01 2009

  • I call it homestead because we used every available box and piece of cardboard from everything that came into the house, to make things with, when we were growing up on the homestead.

    Handkerchief Box 2009

  • These are what I called "homestead crafts" because they were similar to things we did in homestead days.

    Archive 2009-01-01 2009

  • Throughout Bantu history, there is every reason to suppose that food preparation was the undertaking of women within homestead environs.

    Societies, Religion, and History: Central East Tanzanians and the World They Created, c. 200 BCE to 1800 CE 2008

  • The old homestead is out in the true, deep, godforsaken boonies, because it takes all day to get there by truck; and most of the driving day is spent rumbling along on unpaved roads.

    The Abandoned moriarty6 2007

  • The homestead is sitting there tranquilly on its hilltop, embowered by an orchard -- fig, apple, pear, orange, lemon, and peach trees, and grape vines, all heavy laden with fruit.

    War Nears New Zealand 1942

  • This unpretentious log house had been the first home of Mr. and Mrs. Steadman, and was part of the "improvements" specified by the Government to show that a homestead is entered in good faith.

    The Second Chance 1910

  • Thirty years ago, or in 1877, 845 homestead - entries were made, aggregating 135,200 acres (a homestead is 160 acres), but 54 per cent. of the entries were subsequently cancelled, the duties required under the Homestead Act not having been complied with, and the land reverted to the Government.

    Development of the Canadian West 1907

  • The programs are often called homestead exemptions.

    Government Computer News Current Issue 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.