DCHP-2

improvement † DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1a n. — Hist.

  the clearing of land, provision of fences, buildings, etc. as required of settlers receiving grants of land or, later, holding land under the homestead laws. See 1824 quote.

  See also: improve (def. 1)  

  • 1789  (1905)  . . . the petitioner shall . . . begin the improvement and cultivation thereof within one year from the date of such assignment.
  • 1824  In Canada, what is called improvement consists in merely chopping down the trees, collecting and burning them with such other impediments upon the surface as the fire will consume, such as under-brush, leaves, etc.
  • 1827  Upon this farm there are 20 acres of land under fence and in a good state of improvement, and 200 acres of unimproved land.

• 1b n. — Hist.

  into (or under) improvement, of land, cleared of trees and underbrush and ready for farming

  See also: improve (def. 2)  

  • 1799  A valuable and pleasant situation at Burlington Bay . . . containing 975 acres of land, 150 of which are under good improvement.
  • 1811  A few years ago I purchased a lot of land in this neighborhood, which I have now brought into a good state of improvement.
  • 1821  Their object is, to have a great deal of land under improvement, as they call it; and . . . they go on cutting down the woods on their lots, and regularly transferring the crops to the soil last cleared, until they think they have sufficiently extended the bounds of their farms.

• 2a n. (usually plural)

  things done to improve (def. 1) land.

  See also: improve (def. 1)  

  • 1769  The Possessors of such Concessions shall be entitled to such Part of them as shall be proportioned to the Improvements they have made thereon, at the Rate of fifty Acres they shall have improved.
  • 1824  Numbers of farmers from the old country come here with wives and families, and they often to avoid the sufferings and privations which they must endure by going at once into the woods, purchase or rent a farm with what is here termed improvements.
  • 1869  The improvements comprise a dwelling house and barn, with about 70 acres under fence.
  • 1882  The improvements made by Wright before his death consisted of ten acres of breaking with crop and fencing, partially in each of the quarters forming the west half of the section, and the walls of a house on one of the same quarters.
  • 1910  This unpretentious log house had been the first home of Mr. and Mrs. Steadman, and was part of the "improvements" specified by the Government to show that a homestead had been entered in good faith.
  • 1958  I remember it as it originally was, for my brother and I, aged eight and six, accompanied my father when he went out to make the first "improvements."
  • 1966  "Tonks . . . could have no honest belief that he was making improvements on land that was his own."

• 2b n. (usually plural) — Obs.

  the lands so improved.

  • 1796  Some of you have as large improvements as 50 acres, or more, and the crops you get scarcely worth harvesting.
  • 1824  When this [clearing and burning] is done, the land is fit to receive the seed without the application of any implement of agriculture, and is called an improvement of so many acres. . . .

• 3 n. — Obs.

  of land, enhancement in value resulting from the making of improvements (def. 2).

  See also: improve (def. 1)  improvement (def. 2)  

  • 1805  Sometimes . . . the obligee in the bond . . . takes back the land with four or five years improvement upon it, and resells it to a fresh purchaser to a great profit.