homestead

== English == === 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. === Pronunciation === (General American) IPA(key): /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/ === Noun === homestead (plural homesteads) A house together with surrounding land and buildings, especially on a farm; the property comprising these. (Canada, US) 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. Synonyms: farmstead, quarter section Hypernyms: residence, messuage The place that is one's home. (South Africa) A cluster of several houses occupied by an extended family. (obsolete) The home or seat of a family; place of origin. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === homestead (third-person singular simple present homesteads, present participle homesteading, simple past and past participle homesteaded) (transitive, intransitive) To acquire or settle on land as a homestead. [from 1872] (transitive, political philosophy, chiefly libertarianism) To appropriate an unowned, scarce means, and thereby gain ownership of it. ==== Derived terms ==== homesteader Homestead Valley === See also === hstead homesteading smallholding croft === Anagrams === deathsome