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to homestead

to homestead

5 8.1
To settle on government land and live there to farm it
  • verb
  • /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd/
  • Archaic
translation icon : asentarse en (EE. UU.)
  • He's an old man who homesteaded here.

So that makes it so I'm not going to be able to afford housing until I can afford to like homestead in the middle of nowhere or something.

Examples

  • There they would join one of the many wagon trains heading to California, where they would homestead and make their fortune.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • We found five families who will homestead at Fort Ruby and help us resettle it.

  • But I also wanted to homestead and live a simple country life.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • About anyone can homestead on whatever level is comfortable to them, according to Anna.

    Blog text (32)
  • I want a young farmer, homesteading a quarter section.

  • My mother told stories of homesteading on the Canadian Prairies.

    Blog text (34)
  • "Jesse's kin homesteaded this place clear back in the Land Rush, lived here ever since."

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Carl and his wife Rebecca had homesteaded in this valley back in '65, after they noticed all the tourists stopping to photograph the glacier.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • So when I became 21, I followed in my father's footsteps and went up to northwestern North Dakota, right up on the Canadian border and homesteaded near a little railroad town called Crosby.

  • After receiving official approval, she decided to homestead a piece of land in the mountains.

Synonyms

to settle
vsto homestead
463 2.5

To live in a place, often for a long time

involves a government land grant and formal founding of a home
to reside
vsto homestead
91 3.0

To live in a particular place

includes the special case of getting government land to found a home
to occupy
vsto homestead
79 3.0

To live in a place or have a home there

means taking land granted by authorities and building a permanent home
to domicile
vsto homestead
  • Formal
2 7.9

To make a place your official home for legal and tax purposes

requires specifically receiving land from authorities to establish a home
to domiciliate
vsto homestead
  • Formal
9.9

To start living in a certain place as your home, sometimes for legal reasons

involves receiving land from the government to set up a home

Antonyms

773 3.1

Leave someone or something behind permanently and without care

Compounds

homestead law
  • Formal
8.1

A law that protects a person's home from people or companies who are owed money

How Settled

to colonize
46 6.3
to settle
463 2.5
to homestead
  • Archaic
5 8.1
to squat
22 6.4
to camp
220 1.0

Surface Forms

homestead infinitive
homesteaded past participle
homesteading present participle
homesteads third person singular

Etymology

The verb homestead comes from the idea of home + stead ('home place'), so to 'homestead' is to make a home place on new land; settlers would homestead by living on and farming the land until it became theirs.