–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 whe d46 re 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, esp. under control of an automatic aiming mechanism, toward a specified target, as a plane, missile, or location (often fol. 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, esp. 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: S a9b he 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.

–noun

1.	the bottom support of anything; that on which a thing stands or rests: a metal base for the table.

2.	a fundamental principle or groundwork; foundation; basis: the base of needed reforms.

3.	the bottom layer or coating, as of makeup or paint.

4.	Architecture. a. the distinctively treated portion of a column or pier below the shaft or shafts. b. the distinctively treated lowermost portion of any construction, as a monument, exterior wall, etc.

5.	Botany, Zoology. a. the part of an organ nearest its point of attachmen d46 t. b. the point of attachment.

6.	the principal element or ingredient of anything, considered as its fundamental part: face cream with a lanolin base; paint with a lead base.

7.	that from which a commencement, as of action or reckoning, is made; a starting point or point of departure.

8.	Baseball. a. any of the four corners of the diamond, esp. first, second, or third base. Compare home plate. b. a square canvas sack containing sawdust or some other light material, for marking first, second, or third base.

9.	a starting line or point for runners, racing cars, etc.

10.	(in hockey and other games) the goal.

11.	Military. a. a fortified or more or less protected area or place from which the operations of an army or an air force proceed. b. a supply installation for a large military force.

12.	Geometry. the line or surface forming the part of a figure that is most nearly horizontal or on which it is supposed to stand.

13.

Mathematics. a. the number that serves as a starting point for a logarithmic or other numerical system. b. a collection of subsets of a topological space having the property that every open set in the given topology can be written as the union of sets of the collection. c. a collection of neighborhoods of a point such that every neighborhood of the point contains one from the collection. d. a collection of sets of a given filter such that every set in the filter is contained in some set in the collection.

14.	Also called base line. Surveying. See under triangulation (def. 1).

15.	Painting. a. vehicle (def. 10). b. Also called carrier. inert matter, used in the preparation of lakes, onto which 78 a coloring compound is precipitated.

16.	Photography. a thin, flexible layer of cellulose triacetate or similar material that holds the light-sensitive film emulsion and other coatings, esp. on motion-picture film.

17.

Chemistry. a. a compound that reacts with an acid to form a salt, as ammonia, calcium hydroxide, or certain nitrogen-containing organic compounds. b. the hydroxide of a metal or of an electropositive element or group. c. a group or molecule that takes up or accepts protons. d. a molecule or ion containing an atom with a free pair of electrons that can be donated to an acid; an electron-pair donor. e. any of the purine and pyrimidine compounds found in nucleic acids: the purines adenine and guanine and the pyrimidines cytosine, thymine, and uracil.

18.	Grammar. the part of a complex word, consisting of one or more morphemes, to which derivational or inflectional affixes may be added, as want in unwanted or biolog- in biological. Compare root 1 (def. 11), stem 1 (def. 16).

19.	Linguistics. the component of a generative grammar containing the lexicon and phrase-structure rules that generate the deep structure of sentences.

20.	Electronics. a. an electrode or terminal on a transistor other than the emitter or collector electrodes or terminals. b. the part of an incandescent lamp or electron tube that includes the terminals for making electrical connection to a circuit or power supply.

21.	Stock Exchange. the level at which a security ceases a decline in price.

22.	Heraldry. the lower part of an escutcheon.

23.	bases, Armor. a tonlet formed of two shaped steel plates assembled side by side.

24.	Jewelry. pavilion (def. 6).

25.	in base, Heraldry. in the lower part of an escutcheon.

–adjective

26.	serving as or forming a base: The walls will need a base coat and two finishing coats.

–verb (used with object)

27.	to make or form a base or foundation for.

28.	to establish, as a fact or conclusion (usually fol. by on or upon): He based his assumption of her guilt on the fact that she had no alibi.

29.	to place or establish on a base or basis; ground; found (usually fol. by on or upon): Our plan is based on a rising economy.

30.	to station, place, or situate (usually fol. by at or on): He is based at Fort Benning. The squadron is based on a carrier.

–verb (used without object)

31.	to have a basis; be based (usually fol. by on or upon): Fluctuating prices usually base on a fickle public's demand.

32.	to have or maintain a base: I believe they had based on Greenland at one time.

—Idioms

33.	get to first base. first base (def. 2).

34.	off base, a. Baseball. not touching a base: The pitcher caught him off base and, after a quick throw, he was put out by the second baseman. b. Informal. badly mistaken: The police were way off base when they tried to accuse her of the theft.

35.	on base, Baseball. having reached a base or bases: Two men are on base.

36.	touch base with, to make contact with: They've touched base with every political group on campus.