homestead Hear it!

homestead definition

home·stead (hōm′sted′)

noun

  1. ☆ a place where a family makes its home, including the land, house, and outbuildings
  2. Law such a place occupied by the owner and his family and exempted from seizure or forced sale to meet general debts
  3. ☆ a tract of public land (160 acres by the Homestead Act of 1862) granted by the U.S. government to a settler to be developed as a farm

Etymology: OE hamstede: see home & stead

intransitive verb

to become a settler on a homestead

transitive verb

to settle on as a homestead

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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