homesteading

[ hohm-sted-ing ]

noun

1. an act or instance of establishing a homestead.
2. Also called homesteading program, a federal program to improve deteriorating urban areas by offering abandoned or foreclosed houses to persons who agree to repair them and live in them for a specified number of years.

homesteading

/ ˈhəʊmˌstɛdɪŋ /

noun

1. 1. a scheme whereby council tenants are enabled to buy derelict property from the council and renovate it with the aid of Government grants
   2. ( as modifier )

      a homesteading scheme

Word History and Origins

Origin of homesteading¹

First recorded in 1890–95, for earlier sense “homestead”; homestead + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

What she did on that 160 acres of land in southeastern Colorado was similar to what was happening on farm parcels everywhere across the U.S., especially where people were homesteading under the Great Plains.

From Salon

After the Gold Rush, Shasta Indians worked to reclaim their historical community by purchasing or homesteading land parcels; some “squatted” on newly privatized lands they did not own.

From Los Angeles Times

Olga Talbot was born in Germany in 1882, then at age 10 was shipped off to the United States to live with a homesteading brother after her father murdered her mother and then killed himself.

From Seattle Times

She has been refocusing her ingenuity on what she calls “urban homesteading,” tending to her artisanal chickens, amending the soil in her organic garden and planning to re-sand her kitchen.

From Los Angeles Times

The evolution from the short-term probes to long-term lunar homesteading — from exploration to expansion — will require a serious commitment of resources and new technologies.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• agriculture
• breeding
• cultivation
• culture
• gardening
• grazing
• production
• ranching