At home

also, at home. a reception of visitors at certain hours at one’s home.
done or used in the home; intended for one’s home:
a new line of at-home computers; at-home -ssignments for free-lance workers.
a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.
the place in which one’s domestic affections are centered.
an inst-tution for the homeless, sick, etc.:
a nursing home.
the dwelling place or retreat of an animal.
the place or region where something is native or most common.
any place of residence or refuge:
a heavenly home.
a person’s native place or own country.
(in games) the destination or goal.
a princ-p-l base of operations or activities:
the new stadium will be the home of the local football team.
baseball. .
lacrosse. one of three attack positions nearest the opposing goal.
of, relating to, or connected with one’s home or country; domestic:
home products.
princ-p-l or main:
the corporation’s home office.
reaching the mark aimed at:
a home thrust.
sports. played in a ball park, arena, or the like, that is or is -ssumed to be the center of operations of a team:
the pitcher didn’t lose a single home game all season.
compare (def 11).
to, toward, or at home:
to go home.
deep; to the heart:
the truth of the accusation struck home.
to the mark or point aimed at:
he drove the point home.
nautical.

into the position desired; perfectly or to the greatest possible extent:
sails sheeted home.
in the proper, stowed position:
the anchor is home.
toward its vessel:
to bring the anchor home.

to go or return home.
(of guided missiles, aircraft, etc.) to proceed, especially under control of an automatic aiming mechanism, toward a specified target, as a plane, missile, or location (often followed by in on):
the missile homed in on the target.
to navigate toward a point by means of coordinates other than those given by alt-tudes.
to have a home where specified; reside.
to bring or send home.
to provide with a home.
to direct, especially under control of an automatic aiming device, toward an airport, target, etc.
at home,

in one’s own house or place of residence.
in one’s own town or country.
prepared or willing to receive social visits:
tell him i’m not at home. we are always at home to her.
in a situation familiar to one; at ease:
she has a way of making everyone feel at home.
well-informed; proficient:
to be at home in the cl-ssics.
played in one’s hometown or on one’s own grounds:
the yankees played two games at home and one away.

bring home to, to make evident to; clarify or emphasize for:
the irrevocability of her decision was brought home to her.
home and dry, british informal. having safely achieved one’s goal.
home free,

-ssured of finishing, accomplishing, succeeding, etc.:
if we can finish more than half the work today, we’ll be home free.
certain to be successfully finished, accomplished, secured, etc.:
with most of the voters supporting it, the new law is home free.

write home about, to comment especially on; remark on:
the town was nothing to write home about. his cooking is really something to write home about.
noun
the place or a place where one lives: have you no home to go to?
a house or other dwelling
a family or other group living in a house or other place
a person’s country, city, etc, esp viewed as a birthplace, a residence during one’s early years, or a place dear to one
the environment or habitat of a person or animal
the place where something is invented, founded, or developed: the us is the home of baseball

a building or organization set up to care for orphans, the aged, etc
an informal name for a mental home

(sport) one’s own ground: the match is at home

the objective towards which a player strives in certain sports
an area where a player is safe from attack

(lacrosse)

one of two positions of play nearest the opponents’ goal
a player -ssigned to such a position: inside home

(baseball) another name for home plate
(nz, informal, obsolete) britain, esp england
a home from home, a place other than one’s own home where one can be at ease
at home

in one’s own home or country
at ease, as if at one’s own home
giving an informal party at one’s own home
(brit) such a party

at home in, at home on, at home with, familiar or conversant with
(brit, informal) home and dry, definitely safe or successful: we will not be home and dry until the votes have been counted austral. and nz equivalent home and hosed
near home, concerning one deeply
adjective (usually prenominal)
of, relating to, or involving one’s home, country, etc; domestic
(of an activity) done in one’s house: home taping
effective or deadly: a home thrust
(sport) relating to one’s own ground: a home game
(us) central; princ-p-l: the company’s home office
adverb
to or at home: i’ll be home tomorrow
to or on the point
to the fullest extent: hammer the nail home
(of nautical gear) into or in the best or proper position: the boom is home
bring home to

to make clear to
to place the blame on

(nautical) come home, (of an anchor) to fail to hold
come home to, to become absolutely clear to
(informal) nothing to write home about, to be of no particular interest: the film was nothing to write home about
verb
(intransitive) (of birds and other animals) to return home accurately from a distance
often foll by on or onto. to direct or be directed onto a point or target, esp by automatic navigational aids
to send or go home
to furnish with or have a home
(intransitive; often foll by in or in on) to be directed towards a goal, target, etc
noun
baron, see home of the hirsel
noun
another name for open day
a social gathering in a person’s home
n.

old english ham “dwelling, house, estate, village,” from proto-germanic -haimaz (cf. old frisian hem “home, village,” old norse heimr “residence, world,” heima “home,” danish hjem, middle dutch heem, german heim “home,” gothic haims “village”), from pie root -tkei- “to settle, dwell, be home” (cf. sanskrit kseti “abides, dwells,” armenian shen “inhabited,” greek kome, lithuanian kaimas “village;” old church slavonic semija “domestic servants”).

‘home’ in the full range and feeling of [modern english] home is a conception that belongs distinctively to the word home and some of its gmc. cognates and is not covered by any single word in most of the ie languages. [buck]

home stretch (1841) is originally a reference from horse racing. home base in baseball attested by 1859 (home plate by 1867; home as the goal in a sport or game is from 1778). home economics first attested 1899. slang phrase make (oneself) at home “become comfortable in a place one does not live” dates from 1892. to keep the home fires burning is from a song t-tle from 1914. to be nothing to write home about “unremarkable” is from 1907. home movie is from 1919; home computer is from 1967.

v.

1765, “to go home,” from home (n.). meaning “be guided to a destination by radio signals, etc. (of missiles, aircraft, etc.) is from 1920; it had been used earlier in reference to pigeons (1862). related: homed; homing. old english had hamian “to establish in a home.”
n.

“reception of visitors,” 1745, from phrase at home.

related terms

bring home the bacon, home boy, money from home, n-body home, nothing to write home about
in one’s own residence, town, or country. for example, mary was not at home when i called, or tourists in a foreign country often behave more rudely than they do at home. this idiom was first recorded in a ninth-century treatise.
ready to receive a visitor, as in we are always at home to our neighbor’s children. this usage gave rise to the noun at-home, meaning a reception to which guests are invited on a specific day at specific hours (also see open house). [ c. 1600 ]
also, at home with. comfortable and familiar, as in mary always makes us feel at home, or i’ve never been at home with his style of management. [ early 1500s ]
also see: at ease, def. 1.
also, at home with. proficient, well-versed in, as in young john is so much at home with numbers that he may well become a mathematician, or chris is really at home in french. [ late 1700s ]
in team sports, playing on one’s own field or in one’s own town. for example, the red sox always do better at home than they do at away games.

home free
home in on
home run
home truth

also see:

at home
bring home
bring home the bacon
chickens come home to roost
close to home
drive home
eat someone out of house and home
make oneself at home
n-body home
nothing to write home about
till the cows come home