at-home

(ət-hōm′, ăt-)

n. also at home

An informal reception in one's home.

adj.

1. Being, occurring, or functioning in one's home: at-home workers; at-home care.

2. Designed for or appropriate for one's home: at-home fashions.

home

(hōm)

1. A place where one lives; a residence.

2. The physical structure within which one lives, such as a house or apartment.

3. A dwelling place together with the family or social unit that occupies it; a household.

a. An environment offering security and happiness.

b. A valued place regarded as a refuge or place of origin.

5. The place, such as a country or town, where one was born or has lived for a long period.

6. The native habitat, as of a plant or animal.

7. The place where something is discovered, founded, developed, or promoted; a source.

8. A headquarters; a home base.

a. Baseball Home plate.

b. Games Home base.

10. An institution where people are cared for: a home for the elderly.

11. Computers

a. The starting position of the cursor on a text-based computer display, usually in the upper left corner of the screen.

b. A starting position within a computer application, such as the beginning of a line, file, or screen or the top of a chart or list.

adj.

a. Of or relating to a home, especially to one's household or house: home cooking; home furnishings.

b. Taking place in the home: home care for the elderly.

2. Of, relating to, or being a place of origin or headquarters: the home office.

3. Sports Relating to a team's sponsoring institution or to the place where it is franchised: a home game; the home field advantage.

4. Of, relating to, or being the keys used as base positions for the fingers in touch-typing: The home row on a standard keyboard consists of the keys for A, S, D, F, J, K, L, ;, and '.

adv.

1. At, to, or toward the direction of home: going home for lunch.

2. On or into the point at which something is directed: The arrow struck home.

3. To the center or heart of something; deeply: Your comments really hit home.

v. homed, hom·ing, homes

v.intr.

To go or return to one's residence or base of operations.

v.tr.

1. To guide (a missile or aircraft) to a target.

2. Chiefly British

a. To arrange to have (an animal) placed in a home.

b. To take (an animal) into one's home.

Phrasal Verb:

home in

1. To move or advance toward a target or goal: The missile homed in on the target.

2. To focus the attention or make progress achieving an objective: The investigators were homing in on the truth.

Idioms:

at home

1. Available to receive visitors: at home on Thursdays.

2. Comfortable and relaxed; at ease: at home in diplomatic circles.

3. Feeling an easy competence and familiarity: at home in French.

home free

Out of jeopardy; assured of success: We had our hardest exams first and were home free after that.

[Middle English, from Old English hām; see tkei- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	at home - a reception held in your own home reception - a formal party of people; as after a wedding
Adv.	1.	at home - on the home team's field; "they played at home last night" athletics, sport - an active diversion requiring physical exertion and competition
	2.	at home - at, to, or toward the place where you reside; "he worked at home"

Translations

على ملْعَبِهفي البَيْت

domana vlastním hřišti

hjemme

zu Hause daheim

hejme

kotona

à domicile à la maison

hazai pályán

heimaheimaleikur

in casa ricovero asilo

дома

hemma

evdeiçerdekendi sahasında

在主场在家里

home

(həum) noun

1. the house, town, country etc where a person etc usually lives. I work in London but my home is in Bournemouth; When I retire, I'll make my home in Bournemouth; Africa is the home of the lion; We'll have to find a home for the kitten.

2. the place from which a person, thing etc comes originally. America is the home of jazz.

3. a place where children without parents, old people, people who are ill etc live and are looked after. an old folk's home; a nursing home.

4. a place where people stay while they are working. a nurses' home.

5. a house. Crumpy Construction build fine homes for fine people; He invited me round to his home.

adjective

1. of a person's home or family. home comforts.

2. of the country etc where a person lives. home produce.

3. (in football) playing or played on a team's own ground. the home team; a home game.

adverb

1. to a person's home. I'm going home now; Hallo – I'm home!

2. completely; to the place, position etc a thing is intended to be. He drove the nail home; Few of his punches went home; These photographs of the war brought home to me the suffering of the soldiers.

ˈhomeless noun plural, adjective

(people) without a place to live in. This charity was set up to help the homeless; homeless people.

ˈhomely adjective

1. simple but pleasant. homely food.

2. making a person feel he is at home. a homely atmosphere.

3. (American) (of a person) not attractive; ugly.

ˈhomeliness noun

ˈhoming adjective

1. (of pigeons etc) which (can) fly home when set free a long way from home.

2. able to take a missile etc to its target. These torpedoes have homing devices in their noses.

ˈhome-coming noun

1. the return home of a person (who has been away for some time). We had a party to celebrate his home-coming.

2. (American) an annual event held by a college, a university or high school for former students.

ˌhome-ˈgrown adjective

grown in one's own garden or in one's own country. These tomatoes are home-grown.

ˈhomeland noun

a person's native land. Immigrants often weep for their homeland.

ˌhome-ˈmade adjective

made by a person at home; not professionally made. home-made jam; home-made furniture.

home rule

the government of a country or part of a country by its own citizens.

ˈhomesick adjective

missing one's home. When the boy first went to boarding-school he was very homesick.

ˈhomesickness noun

ˈhomestead (-sted) noun

a house, especially a farm, with the land and other buildings (eg barns) which belong to it, especially in the United States, Australia etc.

home truth

a plain statement of something which is unpleasant but true (about a person, his behaviour etc) said directly to the person. It's time someone told him a few home truths.

ˈhomeward adjective

going home. his homeward journey.

ˈhomeward(s) adverb

towards home. his journey homeward; He journeyed homewards.

ˈhomework noun

work or study done at home, especially by a school pupil. Finish your homework!

at home

1. in one's home. I'm afraid he's not at home.

2. (in football etc) in one's own ground. The team is playing at home today.

be/feel at home

to feel as relaxed as one does in one's own home or in a place or situation one knows well. I always feel at home in France; He's quite at home with cows – he used to live on a farm.

home in on

to move towards (a target etc). The missile is designed to home in on aircraft.

leave home

1. to leave one's house. I usually leave home at 7.30 a.m.

2. to leave one's home to go and live somewhere else. He left home at the age of fifteen to get a job in Australia.

make oneself at home

to make oneself as comfortable and relaxed as one would at home. Make yourself at home!

nothing to write home about

not very good. The concert was nothing to write home about.