England. The use mentioned by Paulding and Dixon is dying out.
1755. My command [was] reduced, under a pretence of an order from home!—George Washington to Augustine Washington, ‘Writings’ (1889), i. 179. (N.E.D.) (Italics in the original.)
1825. A petition from the colonies—“their last petition”—had been treated, “at home,” with contempt and laughter.—John Neal, ‘Brother Jonathan,’ i. 134.
1831. “Is he rich enough to take me home?” whispered Miss Van Borsum to her mother—home being the phrase for Old England at that time, when it was considered vulgar to belong to a colony.—J. K. Paulding, ‘The Dutchman’s Fireside,’ ii. 52.
1833. In those days, vessels going to Great Britain was usually called “going home.”—Watson, ‘Historic Tales of Philadelphia,’ p. 140.
1866. Americans of the higher class, when they are grave and tender, always speak of England by the name of Home.—W. H. Dixon, ‘New America,’ ch. xliii.
