Home"stead (?), n. [AS. hāmstede.]
1. The home
place; a home and the
inclosure or ground immediately
connected with it.
Dryden.
2. The home or seat
of a family;
place of origin.
We can trace
them back to a homestead on the Rivers Volga and Ural.
W.
Tooke. 3. (Law)
The home and appurtenant land and buildings owned by the head of a family, and occupied by him and his family.
Homestead law. (a) A law conferring special
privileges or exemptions upon
owners of homesteads; esp., a law exempting a homestead from attachment or sale under execution for general debts. Such laws, with limitations as to the extent
or value of
the property, exist in most
of the States. Called also homestead exemption law.
(b) Also, a designation of an Act of Congress authorizing and regulating the sale of public lands, in parcels of 160 acres each, to actual settlers. [U.S.]
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