homestead
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homestead¹
- /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/ US
Where it comes from
From Middle English hamstede, hemstede (attested in placenames), from Old English hāmstede (“homestead”), from Proto-West Germanic *haimastadi (“homestead”). By surface analysis, home + stead. Cognate with Old Frisian hāmstede, hēmstede (“homestead”), Dutch heemstede (“homestead”), German Heimstatt, Heimstätte (“homestead”), Swedish hemstad (“homestead”), Old Icelandic heimstǫð (“homestead”). Doublet of Hampstead and Hempstead.
noun homesteads
- A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these. A Yard she had with Pales enclos’d about, / Some high, some low, and a dry Ditch without. / Within this Homestead, liv’d without a Peer, / For crowing loud, the noble Chanticleer:
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A parcel of land in the interior of North America, usually 160 acres, that was distributed to settlers from Europe or eastern North America under the Dominion Lands Act of 1870 in Canada or the Homestead Act of 1862 in the United States.
He owned exactly six hundred and forty acres of what stretched outside his door; his own original homestead and timber claim, making three hundred and twenty acres, and the half-section adjoining, the homestead of a younger brother who had given up the fight, gone back to Chicago to work in a fancy
Similar: farmstead, quarter section
- The place that is one's home. Grief from yeer to yeer / Rents my poor Heart, and makes his Home-stead there:
- A cluster of several houses occupied by an extended family.
- The home or seat of a family; place of origin. Where then wast thou tempted, O Blessed Jesu? or whither wentest thou to meet with our great Adversary? I do not see thee led into the marketplace, or any other part of the City, or thy home-stead of Nazareth, but into the vast Wilderness, the habitation of beasts;
verb homesteads · homesteading · homesteaded
- To acquire or settle on land as a homestead. When Samuel and Liza came to the Salinas Valley all the level land was taken, the rich bottoms, the little fertile creases in the hills, the forests, but there was still marginal land to be homesteaded, and in the barren hills, to the east of what is now King City, Samuel Hamilton homesteaded.
- To appropriate an unowned, scarce means, and thereby gain ownership of it.
Homestead²
proper noun
- Former name of Indian Wells, Kern County, California.
- A city in Miami-Dade County, Florida.
- A census-designated place in Iowa County, Iowa.
- A township in Otter Tail County, Minnesota.
- A township in Benzie County, Michigan.
- An unincorporated community in Sugar Island Township, Chippewa County, Michigan.
- A village in Ray County, Missouri.
- A census-designated place in Catron County, New Mexico.
- An unincorporated community in Blaine County, Oklahoma.
- An unincorporated community in Baker County, Oregon.
- A neighbourhood in south-west Portland, Oregon.
- A borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
- A town in Florence County, Wisconsin.
- A rural town and locality in Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia.
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: farm, house, shut, exploit, operate, firm, property, ownership, adelaide, farmhouse, farmstead, ranch, smallholding, steading, grange, plantation
Translations
Every language
noun house together with surrounding land and buildings
| Español | masía, alquería |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 家宅 jiāzhái, 宅地 zháidì |
| Deutsch | Eigenheim, Gehöft, Siedlerhof, Heimstätte, Anwesen, Hofstelle |
| Italiano | abitazione isolata, casa isolata |
| Ελληνικά | υποστατικό ypostatikó |
noun place that is one's home
| 中文 | 家園 /家园 jiāyuán |
|---|---|
| Français | propriété, foyer, demeure |
| Deutsch | Heimstätte, Wohnstätte, Wohnstatt, Wohnplatz, Zuhause |
| Italiano | luogo natio, casolare |
| Русский | уса́дьба usádʹba |
Talk about this word "homestead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/homestead. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. homestead. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/homestead "homestead." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/homestead.Cite this
@misc{homestead_2026,
title = {homestead},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/homestead},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
