I. NOUN, ADJECTIVE, AND ADVERB USES
/hoʊm/
( homes)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
Someone’s home is the house or flat where they live.
Last night they stayed at home and watched TV...
...his home in Hampstead.
...the allocation of land for new homes.
N-COUNT : oft poss N , also at N
2.
You can use home to refer in a general way to the house, town, or country where someone lives now or where they were born, often to emphasize that they feel they belong in that place.
She gives frequent performances of her work, both at home and abroad...
His father worked away from home for much of Jim’s first five years...
Warwick is home to some 550 international students...
N-UNCOUNT
3.
Home means to or at the place where you live.
His wife wasn’t feeling too well and she wanted to go home...
Hi, Mom, I’m home!...
ADV : ADV after v , be ADV
4.
Home means made or done in the place where you live.
...cheap but healthy home cooking...
All you have to do is make a home video.
ADJ : ADJ n
5.
Home means relating to your own country as opposed to foreign countries.
Europe’s software companies still have a growing home market.
= domestic
ADJ : ADJ n
6.
A home is a large house or institution where a number of people live and are looked after, instead of living in their own houses or flats. They usually live there because they are too old or ill to look after themselves or for their families to care for them.
...an old people’s home.
N-COUNT
7.
You can refer to a family unit as a home .
She had, at any rate, provided a peaceful and loving home for Harriet...
N-COUNT
8.
If you refer to the home of something, you mean the place where it began or where it is most typically found.
This south-west region of France is the home of claret.
N-SING : with supp , usu N of n
9.
If you find a home for something, you find a place where it can be kept.
The equipment itself is getting smaller, neater and easier to find a home for.
N-COUNT : oft N for n
10.
If you press, drive, or hammer something home , you explain it to people as forcefully as possible.
It is now up to all of us to debate this issue and press home the argument.
ADV : ADV after v
11.
When a sports team plays at home , they play a game on their own ground, rather than on the opposing team’s ground.
I scored in both games against Barcelona; we drew at home and beat them away.
N-UNCOUNT : usu at N
•
Home is also an adjective.
All three are Chelsea fans, and attend all home games together.
≠ away
ADJ : ADJ n
12.
If you feel at home , you feel comfortable in the place or situation that you are in.
He spoke very good English and appeared pleased to see us, and we soon felt quite at home...
PHRASE : v-link PHR
13.
To bring something home to someone means to make them understand how important or serious it is.
Their sobering conversation brought home to everyone present the serious and worthwhile work the Red Cross does.
PHRASE : V inflects , usu PHR to n
14.
If you say that someone is, in British English home and dry , or in American English home free , you mean that they have been successful or that they are certain to be successful.
The prime minister and the moderates are not yet home and dry.
PHRASE : v-link PHR
15.
If a situation or what someone says hits home or strikes home , people accept that it is real or true, even though it may be painful for them to realize.
Did the reality of war finally hit home?...
PHRASE : V inflects
16.
You can say a home from home in British English or a home away from home in American English to refer to a place in which you are as comfortable as in your own home.
Many cottages are a home from home, offering microwaves, dishwashers, tvs and videos.
PHRASE : usu v-link PHR [ approval ]
17.
If you say to a guest ‘ Make yourself at home ’, you are making them feel welcome and inviting them to behave in an informal, relaxed way.
CONVENTION [ politeness ]
18.
If you say that something is nothing to write home about , you mean that it is not very interesting or exciting. ( INFORMAL )
So a dreary Monday afternoon in Walthamstow is nothing to write home about, right?
PHRASE : v-link PHR
19.
If something that is thrown or fired strikes home , it reaches its target. ( WRITTEN )
Only two torpedoes struck home.
PHRASE : V inflects
II. PHRASAL VERB USES
/hoʊm/
( homes, homing, homed)
• home in
1.
If you home in on one particular aspect of something, you give all your attention to it.
The critics immediately homed in on the group’s newly-elected members.
PHRASAL VERB : V P on n
2.
If something such as a missile homes in on something else, it is aimed at that thing and moves towards it.
Two rockets homed in on it from behind without a sound...
PHRASAL VERB : V P on n
see also homing