Homestead Act

Save This Word!

noun

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.

QUIZ

ARE YOU A TRUE BLUE CHAMPION OF THESE "BLUE" SYNONYMS?

We could talk until we're blue in the face about this quiz on words for the color "blue," but we think you should take the quiz and find out if you're a whiz at these colorful terms.

Question 1 of 8

Which of the following words describes “sky blue”?

navy

beryl

azure

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Meet Grammar Coach

Write or paste your essay, email, or story into Grammar Coach and get grammar help

Improve Your Writing

Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing

Words nearby Homestead Act

home staging, homestall, home stand, homestay, homestead, Homestead Act, homesteader, homesteading, homestead law, home straight, homestretch

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use Homestead Act in a sentence

A spokesman for Lewisham council said last year that it would be forced to act if the family returned to Britain.
Britain May Spy on Preschoolers Searching for Potential Jihadis|Nico Hines|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Every once in a while, they act swiftly and acknowledge the problem.
Today’s GOP: Still Cool With Racist Pandering?|Michael Tomasky|January 7, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That act forever sealed his feeling for the Chief, bound it up with the war, with violence, with the gun.
The Story Behind Lee Marvin’s Liberty Valance Smile|Robert Ward|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The Samaritan guidelines are written around the assumption that suicide is a purely irrational act, an act spurred by illness.
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide Journalism|Arthur Chu|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST

But the act of killing herself done, the message was sent, and heard, and things started changing.
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide Journalism|Arthur Chu|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
He caught himself in the act of listening to you too credulously—and that seemed to him unmanly and dishonorable.
Confidence|Henry James
He was aware that his act by this time, had helped nobody, had made no one happy or satisfied—not even himself.
The Homesteader|Oscar Micheaux
He had, however, recovered sufficiently to enable him to act with promptitude and discretion.
The Giant of the North|R.M. Ballantyne
This seems to be contrary to the spirit and intent of the act, which is primarily to centralize reserves in Federal Reserve Banks.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips
The Act permits member banks to accept an amount of bills not exceeding 50 per cent.
Readings in Money and Banking|Chester Arthur Phillips

British Dictionary definitions for Homestead Act

Homestead Act

noun

an act passed by the US Congress in 1862 making available to settlers 160-acre tracts of public land for cultivation

(in Canada) a similar act passed by the Canadian Parliament in 1872

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for Homestead Act

Homestead Act

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.