homestead

Meanings

Noun

the home and adjacent grounds occupied by a family
land acquired from the United States public lands by filing a record and living on and cultivating it under the homestead law
dwelling that is usually a farmhouse and adjoining land
A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these.
A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these.
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.
The place that is one's home.
A cluster of several houses occupied by an extended family.
The home or seat of a family; place of origin.

Verb

settle land given by the government and occupy it as a homestead
To acquire or settle on land as a homestead.
To appropriate an unowned, scarce means, and thereby gain ownership of it.

Origin / Etymology

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.

Synonyms

farmstead, quarter section

Scrabble Score: 15

homestead is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
homestead is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
homestead is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 15

homestead is a valid Words With Friends word