at home

at-home

[at-hohm]
noun
1.
Also, at home. a reception of visitors at certain hours at one's home.
adjective
2.
done or used in the home; intended for one's home: a new line of at-home computers; at-home assignments for free-lance workers.
Origin:
1740–45

Dictionary.com Unabridged

home

[hohm] noun, adjective, adverb, verb, homed, hom·ing.
noun
1.
a house, apartment, or other shelter that is the usual residence of a person, family, or household.
2.
the place in which one's domestic affections are centered.
3.
an institution for the homeless, sick, etc.: a nursing home.
4.
the dwelling place or retreat of an animal.
5.
the place or region where something is native or most common.
6.
any place of residence or refuge: a heavenly home.
7.
a person's native place or own country.
8.
(in games) the destination or goal.
9.
a principal base of operations or activities: The new stadium will be the home of the local football team.
10.
Baseball. home plate.
11.
Lacrosse. one of three attack positions nearest the opposing goal.
adjective
12.
of, pertaining to, or connected with one's home or country; domestic: home products.
13.
principal or main: the corporation's home office.
14.
reaching the mark aimed at: a home thrust.
15.
Sports. played in a ball park, arena, or the like, that is or is assumed to be the center of operations of a team: The pitcher didn't lose a single home game all season. Compare away ( def 11 ).
adverb
16.
to, toward, or at home: to go home.
17.
deep; to the heart: The truth of the accusation struck home.
18.
to the mark or point aimed at: He drove the point home.
19.
Nautical.
a.
into the position desired; perfectly or to the greatest possible extent: sails sheeted home.
b.
in the proper, stowed position: The anchor is home.
c.
toward its vessel: to bring the anchor home.
verb (used without object)
20.
to go or return home.
21.
(of guided missiles, aircraft, etc.) to proceed, especially under control of an automatic aiming mechanism, toward a specified target, as a plane, missile, or location (often followed by in on ): The missile homed in on the target.
22.
to navigate toward a point by means of coordinates other than those given by altitudes.
23.
to have a home where specified; reside.
verb (used with object)
24.
to bring or send home.
25.
to provide with a home.
26.
to direct, especially under control of an automatic aiming device, toward an airport, target, etc.
Idioms
27.
at home,
a.
in one's own house or place of residence.
b.
in one's own town or country.
c.
prepared or willing to receive social visits: Tell him I'm not at home. We are always at home to her.
d.
in a situation familiar to one; at ease: She has a way of making everyone feel at home.
e.
well-informed; proficient: to be at home in the classics.
f.
played in one's hometown or on one's own grounds: The Yankees played two games at home and one away.
28.
bring home to, to make evident to; clarify or emphasize for: The irrevocability of her decision was brought home to her.
29.
home and dry, British Informal. having safely achieved one's goal.
30.
home free,
a.
assured of finishing, accomplishing, succeeding, etc.: If we can finish more than half the work today, we'll be home free.
b.
certain to be successfully finished, accomplished, secured, etc.: With most of the voters supporting it, the new law is home free.
31.
write home about, to comment especially on; remark on: The town was nothing to write home about. His cooking is really something to write home about.
Origin:
before 900; Middle English hom, Old English hām (noun and adv.); cognate with Dutch heim, Old Norse heimr, Danish hjem, Swedish hem, German Heim home, Gothic haims village; akin to haunt

Related forms
min·i·home, noun

Can be confused: home, house (see synonym study at house).

Synonyms
1. abode, dwelling, habitation; domicile. See house. 2. hearth, fireside. 3. asylum.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source Link To at home
00:10
At home is always a great word to know.
So is callithumpian. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
at-home
 
—n
1.  another name for open day
2.  a social gathering in a person's home

home (həʊm) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
1.  the place or a place where one lives: have you no home to go to?
2.  a house or other dwelling
3.  a family or other group living in a house or other place
4.  a person's country, city, etc, esp viewed as a birthplace, a residence during one's early years, or a place dear to one
5.  the environment or habitat of a person or animal
6.  the place where something is invented, founded, or developed: the US is the home of baseball
7.  a.  a building or organization set up to care for orphans, the aged, etc
 b.  an informal name for a mental home
8.  sport one's own ground: the match is at home
9.  a.  the objective towards which a player strives in certain sports
 b.  an area where a player is safe from attack
10.  lacrosse
 a.  one of two positions of play nearest the opponents' goal
 b.  a player assigned to such a position: inside home
11.  baseball another name for home plate
12.  informal, obsolete (NZ) Britain, esp England
13.  a home from home a place other than one's own home where one can be at ease
14.  at home
 a.  in one's own home or country
 b.  at ease, as if at one's own home
 c.  giving an informal party at one's own home
 d.  (Brit) such a party
15.  at home in, at home on, at home with familiar or conversant with
16.  informal (Brit) home and dry Austral. and NZ equivalent: home and hosed definitely safe or successful: we will not be home and dry until the votes have been counted
17.  near home concerning one deeply
 
—adj
18.  of, relating to, or involving one's home, country, etc; domestic
19.  (of an activity) done in one's house: home taping
20.  effective or deadly: a home thrust
21.  sport relating to one's own ground: a home game
22.  (US) central; principal: the company's home office
 
—adv
23.  to or at home: I'll be home tomorrow
24.  to or on the point
25.  to the fullest extent: hammer the nail home
26.  (of nautical gear) into or in the best or proper position: the boom is home
27.  bring home to
 a.  to make clear to
 b.  to place the blame on
28.  nautical come home (of an anchor) to fail to hold
29.  come home to to become absolutely clear to
30.  informal nothing to write home about to be of no particular interest: the film was nothing to write home about
 
—vb (often foll by on or onto)
31.  (intr) (of birds and other animals) to return home accurately from a distance
32.  to direct or be directed onto a point or target, esp by automatic navigational aids
33.  to send or go home
34.  to furnish with or have a home
35.  (intr; often foll by in or in on) to be directed towards a goal, target, etc
 
[Old English hām; related to Old Norse heimr, Gothic haims, Old High German heim, Dutch heem, Greek kōmi village]
 
'homelike
 
—adj

Home (hjuːm) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n
Baron See Home of the Hirsel

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

home
O.E. ham "dwelling, house, estate, village," from P.Gmc. *khaim- (cf. O.Fris. hem "home, village," O.N. heimr "residence, world," heima "home," Ger. heim "home," Goth. haims "village"), from PIE base *kei- "to lie, settle down" (cf. Gk. kome, Lith. kaimas "village;" O.C.S. semija "domestic servants").
" 'Home' in the full range and feeling of [Modern English] home is a conception that belongs distinctively to the word home and some of its Gmc. cognates and is not covered by any single word in most of the IE languages." [Buck]
The verb meaning "to be guided to a destination by radio signals, etc. (of missiles, aircraft, etc.) is from 1920; it had been used earlier in ref. to homing pigeons (1875). Home stretch (1841) is originally a reference from horse racing. Homebody is from 1821. Homeroom in the U.S. schools sense is first recorded 1915. Home-made is from 1659. Homeland first recorded 1670. Homeless is from 1615. Home economics first attested 1899. Homespun is from 1590 in the literal sense of "spun at home; 1600 in the fig. sense of "plain, homely." Home page first attested 1993. Slang phrase make (oneself) at home "become comfortable in a place one does not live" dates from 1892. To keep the home fires burning is from a song title from 1914.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

at home

  1. In one's own residence, town, or country. For example, Mary was not at home when I called, or Tourists in a foreign country often behave more rudely than they do at home. This idiom was first recorded in a ninth-century treatise.

  2. Ready to receive a visitor, as in We are always at home to our neighbor's children. This usage gave rise to the noun , meaning a reception to which guests are invited on a specific day at specific hours (also see open house). [c. 1600]

  3. Also, . Comfortable and familiar, as in Mary always makes us feel at home, or I've never been at home with his style of management. [Early 1500s] Also see at ease, def. 1.

  4. Also, at home with. Proficient, well-versed in, as in Young John is so much at home with numbers that he may well become a mathematician, or Chris is really at home in French. [Late 1700s]

  5. In team sports, playing on one's own field or in one's own town. For example, The Red Sox always do better at home than they do at away games.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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