land grant

American  

noun

1. a tract of land given by the government, as for colleges or railroads.

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land grant British  

noun

1. a grant of public land to a college, railway, etc

2. (modifier) designating a state university established with such a grant

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Etymology

Origin of land grant

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

land grant

Bennet Evans Tarlow III was the great-great-grandson of the man who carved out and developed much of this area from an 18th-century Spanish land grant.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 14, 2025

A couple of centuries or so later, the peninsula became part of a Spanish land grant, and the demesne of Manuel Dominguez as his Rancho San Pedro.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2024

Marquez’s Mexican ancestors had owned the 6,656-acre land grant rancho that included part of what is now Santa Monica.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 12, 2024

We applaud her leadership and look forward to working with the federal government and other land grant institutions to ensure this critical infrastructure funding is included in the upcoming Farm Bill reauthorization.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 10, 2023

“Maybe, I don’t know. I think he had a land grant for fightin’ in the Revolution.”

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns