HOME, n. [Gr. a house, a close place, or place or rest.]

Close; severe; poignant; as, a home thrust.

1. To one's own habitation; as, in the phrases, go home, come home, bring home, carry home.
2. To one's own country. Home is opposed to abroad, or in a foreign country. My brother will return home in the first ship from India.
3. Close; closely; to the point; as, this consideration comes home to our interest, that is, it nearly affects it. Drive the nail home, that is, drive it close. To haul home the top-sail sheets, in seamen's language, is to draw the bottom of the top-sail close to the yard-artn by means of the sheets. An anchor is said to come home, when it loosens from the ground by the violence of the wind or current, &c.

1. A dwelling-house; the house or place in which one resides. He was not at home. Then the disciples went away again to their own home. John xx. Home is the sacred refuge of our life. Dryden.
2. One's own country. Let affairs at home be well managed by the administration.
3. The place of constant residence; the seat. Flandria, by plenty, made the home of war. Prior.
4. The grave; death; or a future state. Man goeth to his long home. Eccles. xii.
5. The present state of existence. Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. 2 Cor. v. At home, at one's own house or lodgings. To be at home, to be conversant with what is familiar.

1. See Homelyn.
2. One's own dwelling place; the house in which one lives; esp., the house in which one lives with his family; the habitual abode of one's family; also, one's birthplace.
   
   

   The disciples went away again to their own home. John xx. 10.

   Home is the sacred refuge of our life. Dryden.

   Home! home! sweet, sweet home!
   There's no place like home. Payne.

3. Of or pertaining to one's dwelling or country; domestic; not foreign; as home manufactures; home comforts.
4. To one's home or country; as in the phrases, go home, come home, carry home.
5. In various games, the ultimate point aimed at in a progress; goal
   
   
   ; as: (a) (Baseball)
6. One's native land; the place or country in which one dwells; the place where one's ancestors dwell or dwelt.
   
   
   "Our old home [England]." Hawthorne.
7. Close; personal; pointed; as, a home thrust.
   
   

   Home base (Baseball), the base at which the batsman stands and which is the last goal in making a run. -- Home farm, grounds, etc., the farm, grounds, etc., adjacent to the residence of the owner. -- Home lot, an inclosed plot on which the owner's home stands. [U. S.] -- Home rule, rule or government of an appendent or dependent country, as to all local and internal legislation, by means of a governing power vested in the people within the country itself, in contradistinction to a government established by the dominant country; as, home rule in Ireland. Also used adjectively; as, home-rule members of Parliament. -- Home ruler, one who favors or advocates home rule. -- Home run (Baseball), a complete circuit of the bases made before the batted ball is returned to the home base. -- Home stretch (Sport.), that part of a race course between the last curve and the winning post. -- Home thrust, a well directed or effective thrust; one that wounds in a vital part; hence, in controversy, a personal attack.

8. Close; closely.
   
   

   How home the charge reaches us, has been made out. South.

   They come home to men's business and bosoms. Bacon.

9. The abiding place of the affections, especially of the domestic affections.
   
   

   He entered in his house -- his home no more,
   For without hearts there is no home. Byron.

10. To the place where it belongs; to the end of a course; to the full length; as, to drive a nail home; to ram a cartridge home.
    
    

    Wear thy good rapier bare and put it home. Shak.

    * Home is often used in the formation of compound words, many of which need no special definition; as, home- brewed, home-built, home-grown, etc.

    To bring home. See under Bring. -- To come home.(a) To touch or affect personally. See under Come. (b) (Naut.) To drag toward the vessel, instead of holding firm, as the cable is shortened; -- said of an anchor. -- To haul home the sheets of a sail (Naut.), to haul the clews close to the sheave hole. Totten.

11. The locality where a thing is usually found, or was first found, or where it is naturally abundant; habitat; seat; as, the home of the pine.
    
    

    Her eyes are homes of silent prayer. Tennyson.

    Flandria, by plenty made the home of war. Prior.

12. A place of refuge and rest; an asylum; as, a home for outcasts; a home for the blind; hence, esp., the grave; the final rest; also, the native and eternal dwelling place of the soul.
    
    

    Man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets. Eccl. xii. 5.

13. The home base; he started for home.
    
    

    At home.(a) At one's own house, or lodgings. (b) In one's own town or country; as, peace abroad and at home. (c) Prepared to receive callers. -- Home department, the department of executive administration, by which the internal affairs of a country are managed. [Eng.] To be at home on any subject, to be conversant or familiar with it. -- To feel at home, to be at one's ease. -- To make one's self at home, to conduct one's self with as much freedom as if at home.

    Syn. -- Tenement; house; dwelling; abode; domicile.