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home

(hōm)

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.

a. An environment offering security and happiness.

b. 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.

a. Baseball Home plate.

b. Games Home base.

10. An institution where people are cared for: a home for the elderly.

11. Computers

a. The starting position of the cursor on a text-based computer display, usually in the upper left corner of the screen.

b. 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.

a. Of or relating to a home, especially to one's household or house: home cooking; home furnishings.

b. 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.

To go or return to one's residence or base of operations.

v.tr.

1. To guide (a missile or aircraft) to a target.

2. Chiefly British

a. To arrange to have (an animal) placed in a home.

b. To take (an animal) into one's home.

Phrasal Verb:

home in

1. To move or advance toward a target or goal: The missile homed in on the target.

2. To focus the attention or make progress achieving an objective: The investigators were homing in on the truth.

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

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

[Middle English, from Old English hām; see tkei- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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