homesteader
homesteader Lexical Profile
homesteader Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A settler who acquires and cultivates a tract of public land for a home and farm under a government homestead law.
"Each nineteenth-century homesteader had to build a shelter and cultivate the land for five years to gain legal title to the property."
A person who practices a lifestyle of agrarian self-sufficiency, characterized by growing one's own food, preserving harvests, and generating independent household resources.
"As a modern homesteader, she raises heritage chickens, keeps bees, and powers her cabin with solar panels."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
Coined in mid-19th-century American English from "homestead" + "-er," popularized by the U.S. Homestead Act of 1862, which granted public western land to settlers who lived on and cultivated it.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.