Homestead-act
noun
1.
a special act of Congress (1862) that made public lands in the West available to settlers without payment, usually in lots of 160 acres, to be used as farms.
noun
1.
an act passed by the US Congress in 1862 making available to settlers 160-acre tracts of public land for cultivation
2.
(in Canada) a similar act passed by the Canadian Parliament in 1872
A law passed in the 1860s that offered up to 160 acres of public land to any head of a family who paid a registration fee, lived on the land for five years, and cultivated it or built on it.
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- Homestead
[hohm-sted, -stid] /ˈhoʊm stɛd, -stɪd/ noun 1. a dwelling with its land and buildings, occupied by the owner as a home and exempted by a from seizure or sale for debt. 2. any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home. 3. a tract of land acquired under the Homestead Act. […]
- Homesteaded
[hohm-sted, -stid] /ˈhoʊm stɛd, -stɪd/ noun 1. a dwelling with its land and buildings, occupied by the owner as a home and exempted by a from seizure or sale for debt. 2. any dwelling with its land and buildings where a family makes its home. 3. a tract of land acquired under the Homestead Act. […]
- Homesteader
[hohm-sted-er] /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd ər/ noun 1. the owner or holder of a . 2. a settler under the Homestead Act. /ˈhəʊmˌstɛdə/ noun 1. a person owning a homestead 2. (US & Canadian) a person who acquires or possesses land under a homestead law 3. a person taking part in a homesteading scheme
- Homesteading
[hohm-sted-ing] /ˈhoʊmˌstɛd ɪŋ/ noun 1. an act or instance of establishing a . 2. Also called homesteading program, urban homesteading. 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. [hohm-sted, -stid] /ˈhoʊm stɛd, […]
- Homestead-law
noun 1. any law exempting homesteads from seizure or sale for debt. 2. any law making public lands available to settlers to be used as farms. 3. any of various state laws granting special property tax exemptions or other privileges to homesteaders. noun 1. (in the US and Canada) any of various laws conferring certain […]