home

1 noun

1 PLACE WHERE YOU LIVE (C, U) the house, apartment, or place where you live: They have a comfortable home on the outskirts of the town. | at home: Her daughter lives at college during the week and at home on the weekends. | work from home BrE (=do your work at home instead of at a company) | make your home somewhere: A family of swallows had made their home under the roof.

2 WHERE YOU CAME FROM/BELONG (C, U) the place where you came from or where you usually live, especially when this is the place where you feel happy and comfortable: make somewhere your home: She was born in Italy, but she's made Charleston her home. | back home (=used to talk about the place where your family and friends live): Sherri said she misses friends and family back home.

3 be/feel at home

a) to feel comfortable in a place or with a person

(+ in): I'm already feeling at home in the new apartment. (+ with): Penny is very much at home with Roger's family.

b) to feel happy or confident about doing or using something

(+ with/in): I've never felt particularly at home with computers.

4 IN YOUR COUNTRY at home in the country where you live, as opposed to foreign countries: improved sales of trucks both at home and abroad | I miss the hot weather we have at home in India.

5 FAMILY (C, U) the place where a child and his or her family live: leave home: He didn't leave home until he was 21. | come from a broken home old-fashioned (=come from a family in which parent has left the home)

6 PROPERTY (C) a house, apartment etc considered as property which you can buy or sell: Attractive, modern homes for sale.

7 FOR TAKING CARE OF SB (C) a place where people who are very old or sick, or children who have no family are looked after: an old people's home | They had to put her mother in a home.

—see also: rest home

8 dogs'/cats' home a place where animals with no owners are looked after

9 make yourself at home spoken used to tell someone who is visiting you that they should relax: Make yourself at home while I get some coffee.

10 make sb feel at home to make someone feel relaxed by being friendly towards them: I'd like to thank everyone again for making me feel so much at home.

11 find a home for BrE to find a place where something can be kept: I'll have to find a home for the new wine glasses.

12 the home of

a) the place where something was first discovered, made, or developed: America is the home of baseball.

b) the place where a plant or animal grows or lives: India is the home of elephants and tigers.

13 SPORTS TEAM at home if a sports team plays at home, they play at their own sports field

14 home from home BrE, home away from home AmE a place that you think is as pleasant and comfortable as your own house

15 what's that when it's at home? BrE spoken humorous used to ask what someone means when they use a long or unusual word

16 home sweet home used to say how pleasant it is to be in your home

17 GAMES (U) a place in some games or sports which a player must try to reach in order to win a point

—see also: home plate, home run 2 adverb

1 to or at the place where you live: Is Sue home from work yet? | He stayed home for a week to finish writing his book. | go home: I'm going home now. See you tomorrow. | get home (=arrive at your home): By the time we got home the programme had finished. | return home: After three months touring Europe they returned home to Boston.

2 take home to earn a certain amount of money after tax has been taken off: The average store worker takes home around $300 a week.

3 hit/drive/hammer etc sth home

a) to hit or push something firmly into the correct position

b) to make sure that someone understands what you mean by saying it in an extremely direct and determined way: a powerful film with imagery that really drives its message home

4 bring sth home to sb to make you realize how serious, difficult or dangerous something is

5 be home and dry informal especially BrE to have succeeded in doing something

6 be home free AmE informal to have succeeded in doing the most difficult part of something: Only one more page of the hard stuff and we're home free.

—see also: close to home close 2 (20) 3 adjective (only before noun)

1 connected with or belonging to your home or family: home address: Make sure to give us your full home address. | home life (=relationship with your family): The child has had an unhappy home life.

2 connected with a particular country, as opposed to foreign countries: home market (=the country where something is made): These cars are made mainly for the home market, not for export.

3 done at home or intended for use in a home: home cooking | a home computer

4 played or playing at a team's own sports field, rather than an opponent's field: the home team | home games

5 home bird BrE someone who prefers to stay at home rather than going to parties, travelling etc

6 home truths facts about someone that are unpleasant for them to know but that are true: It's time she was told a few home truths!

4 verb home in on phrasal verb (T)

1 to aim exactly at an object or place and move directly to it: The bat can home in on insects using a kind of `radar'.

2 to direct your efforts or attention towards a particular fault or problem: We homed in on the fault in the system and fixed it quickly.