"home in" meaning in All languages combined

See home in on Wiktionary

Verb [English]

Forms: homes in [present, singular, third-person], homing in [participle, present], homed in [participle, past], homed in [past]
Etymology: The phrase originates in military use in the early 20th century, apparently by analogy with the older term homing pigeon. From the 1960s it is also found in the mistaken variant hone in. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hone+in Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} home in (third-person singular simple present homes in, present participle homing in, simple past and past participle homed in)
  1. (military, of an aircraft or guided missile, often with 'on') To draw close to a destination, especially using radar; to move towards a target. Tags: often Categories (topical): Military Translations (to draw close to a destination): sich dem Zielgebiet nähern (German)
    Sense id: en-home_in-en-verb-3t9mF1vH Topics: government, military, politics, war Disambiguation of 'to draw close to a destination': 94 6
  2. (often with 'on') To focus or narrow down to something; to find, draw closer or move towards, as by trial and error or a gradual seeking process. Tags: often Translations (to draw closer or move towards): (in Richtung) ... einschwenken (German), Kurs nehmen (english: auf) (German)
    Sense id: en-home_in-en-verb-oc3rnGzc Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English phrasal verbs with particle (in) Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 5 95 Disambiguation of English phrasal verbs with particle (in): 13 87 Disambiguation of 'to draw closer or move towards': 34 66
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: zero in, hone in [proscribed] Derived forms: homing beacon

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for home in meaning in All languages combined (3.4kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "homing beacon"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The phrase originates in military use in the early 20th century, apparently by analogy with the older term homing pigeon. From the 1960s it is also found in the mistaken variant hone in. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hone+in",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "homes in",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "homing in",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "homed in",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "homed in",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "home in (third-person singular simple present homes in, present participle homing in, simple past and past participle homed in)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Military",
          "orig": "en:Military",
          "parents": [
            "Society",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To draw close to a destination, especially using radar; to move towards a target."
      ],
      "id": "en-home_in-en-verb-3t9mF1vH",
      "links": [
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ],
        [
          "radar",
          "radar"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military, of an aircraft or guided missile, often with 'on') To draw close to a destination, especially using radar; to move towards a target."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of an aircraft or guided missile",
        "with 'on'"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "often"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 6",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to draw close to a destination",
          "word": "sich dem Zielgebiet nähern"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "5 95",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "13 87",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English phrasal verbs with particle (in)",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He used the clues to home in on the source of the flames.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "We are homing in on a solution.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "The eagle homed in for the kill.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 December 21, Bryan Lufkin, “How 'linguistic mirroring' can make you more convincing”, in BBC",
          "text": "Homing in on the way someone presents can help you imitate them; for instance, some prefer to get right down to business, focusing on data and facts.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To focus or narrow down to something; to find, draw closer or move towards, as by trial and error or a gradual seeking process."
      ],
      "id": "en-home_in-en-verb-oc3rnGzc",
      "links": [
        [
          "focus",
          "focus"
        ],
        [
          "narrow",
          "narrow"
        ],
        [
          "find",
          "find"
        ],
        [
          "trial",
          "trial"
        ],
        [
          "error",
          "error"
        ],
        [
          "seeking",
          "seeking"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(often with 'on') To focus or narrow down to something; to find, draw closer or move towards, as by trial and error or a gradual seeking process."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with 'on'"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "often"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to draw closer or move towards",
          "word": "(in Richtung) ... einschwenken"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "34 66",
          "code": "de",
          "english": "auf",
          "lang": "German",
          "sense": "to draw closer or move towards",
          "word": "Kurs nehmen"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "zero in"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "tags": [
        "proscribed"
      ],
      "word": "hone in"
    }
  ],
  "word": "home in"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English phrasal verbs",
    "English phrasal verbs with particle (in)",
    "English verbs"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "homing beacon"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The phrase originates in military use in the early 20th century, apparently by analogy with the older term homing pigeon. From the 1960s it is also found in the mistaken variant hone in. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hone+in",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "homes in",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "homing in",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "homed in",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "homed in",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "home in (third-person singular simple present homes in, present participle homing in, simple past and past participle homed in)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "en:Military"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To draw close to a destination, especially using radar; to move towards a target."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "military",
          "military"
        ],
        [
          "radar",
          "radar"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(military, of an aircraft or guided missile, often with 'on') To draw close to a destination, especially using radar; to move towards a target."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "of an aircraft or guided missile",
        "with 'on'"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "often"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "military",
        "politics",
        "war"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He used the clues to home in on the source of the flames.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "We are homing in on a solution.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "The eagle homed in for the kill.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2020 December 21, Bryan Lufkin, “How 'linguistic mirroring' can make you more convincing”, in BBC",
          "text": "Homing in on the way someone presents can help you imitate them; for instance, some prefer to get right down to business, focusing on data and facts.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To focus or narrow down to something; to find, draw closer or move towards, as by trial and error or a gradual seeking process."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "focus",
          "focus"
        ],
        [
          "narrow",
          "narrow"
        ],
        [
          "find",
          "find"
        ],
        [
          "trial",
          "trial"
        ],
        [
          "error",
          "error"
        ],
        [
          "seeking",
          "seeking"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(often with 'on') To focus or narrow down to something; to find, draw closer or move towards, as by trial and error or a gradual seeking process."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "with 'on'"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "often"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "zero in"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "proscribed"
      ],
      "word": "hone in"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to draw close to a destination",
      "word": "sich dem Zielgebiet nähern"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to draw closer or move towards",
      "word": "(in Richtung) ... einschwenken"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "english": "auf",
      "lang": "German",
      "sense": "to draw closer or move towards",
      "word": "Kurs nehmen"
    }
  ],
  "word": "home in"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-05-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-05-02 using wiktextract (f4fd8c9 and c9440ce). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.