n.
- 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.
v., -stead·ed, -stead·ing, -steads. v.intr.
To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act.
v.tr.
To claim and settle (land) as a homestead.
homesteader home'stead'er n.
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.
