homestead

Pronunciation: /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun the home and adjacent grounds occupied by a family
  2. noun land acquired from the United States public lands by filing a record and living on and cultivating it under the homestead law
  3. noun dwelling that is usually a farmhouse and adjoining land

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.

In classic literature

Semantic network

Broader (hypernyms)
land

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