homestead definitions

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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

Merriam Webster's

geographical name city SE Florida SW of Miami population 31,909

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Date: before 12th century 1. a. the home and adjoining land occupied by a family b. an ancestral home c. house 2. a tract of land acquired from United States public lands by filing a record and living on and cultivating the tract II. verb Date: 1872 transitive verb to acquire or occupy as a homestead intransitive verb to acquire or settle on land under a homestead law • homesteader noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a house, esp. a farmhouse, and outbuildings. 2 Austral. & NZ the owner's residence on a sheep or cattle station. 3 US an area of land (usu. 160 acres) granted to a settler as a home. Derivatives: homesteader n. Etymology: OE hamstede (as HOME, STEAD)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Homestead Home"stead, n. [AS. h[=a]mstede.] 1. The home place; a home and the inclosure or ground immediately connected with it. --Dryden. 2. The home or seat of a family; place of origin. We can trace them back to a homestead on the Rivers Volga and Ural. --W. Tooke. 3. (Law) The home and appurtenant land and buildings owned by the head of a family, and occupied by him and his family. Homestead law. (a) A law conferring special privileges or exemptions upon owners of homesteads; esp., a law exempting a homestead from attachment or sale under execution for general debts. Such laws, with limitations as to the extent or value of the property, exist in most of the States. Called also homestead exemption law. (b) 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. [U.S.]

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(homesteads) 1. A homestead is a farmhouse, together with the land around it. N-COUNT 2. In United States history, a homestead was a piece of government land in the west, which was given to someone so they could settle there and develop a farm. (AM) N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

ancestral halls, arable land, barnyard, barton, cattle ranch, chicken farm, chimney corner, collective farm, cotton plantation, croft, dairy farm, demesne, demesne farm, dry farm, dude ranch, estate, factory farm, fallow, family homestead, farm, farmery, farmhold, farmland, farmplace, farmstead, farmyard, fireplace, fireside, foyer, fruit farm, fur farm, grain farm, grange, grassland, hacienda, hearth, hearth and home, hearthstone, home, home place, home roof, home sweet home, homecroft, homefarm, house and grounds, house and lot, household, ingle, inglenook, ingleside, kibbutz, kolkhoz, location, mains, manor farm, menage, messuage, orchard, pasture, paternal roof, pen, place, plantation, poultry farm, ranch, rancheria, rancho, roof, rooftree, sheep farm, station, steading, stock farm, toft, truck farm