home·stead 
(hōmstĕd′)
(hōmstĕd′)n.
1. A house, especially a farmhouse, with adjoining buildings and land.
2. Law Property qualifying as a person's home under certain laws, such as laws providing tax abatements and exemptions, survivorship rights for spouse and children, and immunity from claims of creditors.
3. Land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act.
4. The place where one's home is.
v. home·stead·ed, home·stead·ing, home·steads
v.intr.
To settle and farm land, especially under the Homestead Act.
v.tr.
To claim and settle (land) as a homestead.
homestead′er n.