home (hōm)
n.

1. A place where one lives; a residence.
2. The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment.
3. A dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it; a household.
4. 1. An environment offering security and happiness.
   2. A valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.
5. The place, such as a country or town, where one was born or has lived for a long period.
6. The native habitat, as of a plant or animal.
7. The place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted; a source.
8. A headquarters; a home base.
9. 1. Baseball. Home plate.
   2. Games. Home base.
10. An institution where people are cared for: a home for the elderly.
11. Computer Science.
    1. The starting position of the cursor on a text-based computer display, usually in the upper left corner of the screen.
    2. A starting position within a computer application, such as the beginning of a line, file, or screen or the top of a chart or list.

adj.

1. 1. Of or relating to a home, especially to one's household or house: home cooking; home furnishings.
   2. Taking place in the home: home care for the elderly.
2. Of, relating to, or being a place of origin or headquarters: the home office.
3. Sports. Relating to a team's sponsoring institution or to the place where it is franchised: a home game; the home field advantage.
4. Of, relating to, or being the keys used as base positions for the fingers in touch-typing: The home row on a standard keyboard consists of the keys for A, S, D, F, J, K, L, and ;.

adv.

1. At, to, or toward the direction of home: going home for lunch.
2. On or into the point at which something is directed: The arrow struck home.
3. To the center or heart of something; deeply: Your comments really hit home.

v., homed, hom·ing, homes.

v.intr.

1. To go or return to one's residence or base of operations.
2. To be guided to a target automatically, as by means of radio waves.
3. To move or lead toward a goal: The investigators were homing in on the truth.

v.tr.
To guide (a missile or aircraft) to a target automatically.

idioms:

at home

1. Available to receive visitors: at home on Thursdays.
2. Comfortable and relaxed; at ease: at home in diplomatic circles.
3. Feeling an easy competence and familiarity: at home in French.

home free

1. Out of jeopardy; assured of success: We had our hardest exams first and were home free after that.

[Middle English, from Old English hām.]

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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