homestead

Homestead is defined as a house and the land surrounding it.

(noun)

A family farm is an example of a homestead.

See homestead in Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun

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

Origin: OE hamstede: see home & stead

intransitive verb

to become a settler on a homestead

transitive verb

to settle on as a homestead

See homestead in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

A house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land.
Law Property designated by a householder as the householder's home and protected by law from forced sale to meet debts.
Land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act.
The place where one's home is.

verb home·stead·ed, home·stead·ing, home·steads

verb, intransitive

To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act.

verb, transitive

To claim and settle (land) as a homestead.

Related Forms: