What is "homing"

Homing \Hom"ing\ (h[=o]m"[i^]ng), p. a. Home-returning; -- used specifically of carrier pigeons.

Homing pigeon, any pigeon trained to return home from a distance. Also called carrier pigeon. Most are bred from the domestic pigeon Columba livia. Homing pigeons are used for sending back messages or for flying races. By carrying the birds away and releasing them at gradually increasing distances from home, they may be trained to return with more or less certainty and promptness from distances up to four or five hundred miles. The birds typically do not stop on their way home, and may average as much as 60 miles per hour on their return trip. If the distance is increased much beyond 400 miles, the birds are unable to cover it without stopping for a prolonged rest, and their return becomes doubtful. The record for returnig from a distance is close to 1,200 miles. Homing pigeons are not bred for fancy points or special colors, but for strength, speed, endurance, and intelligence or homing instinct. Although used since ancient times, homing pigeons have been largely displaced for practical purposes by radio and electronic communications, but they are still used in some special situations at the end of the 20th century. They were used in military operations as recently as in World War II.

"action of going home," 1765, in reference to pigeons, from present participle of home (v.). Homing pigeon attested by 1868.

vb. (present participle of home English)

adj. orienting or directing homeward or to a destination; "the homing instinct"; "a homing beacon"

Homing is the process of determining the location of something, sometimes the source of a transmission, and going to it.

More specifically, it may refer to:

• Guidance system, a device or group of devices used to navigate a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or other craft
  • Homing (missile guidance)
    • Infrared homing, a passive missile guidance system which uses the emission from a target of infrared electromagnetic radiation
    • Semi-active radar homing, a common type of missile guidance system for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems
    • Active radar homing, a missile guidance method in which a guided missile uses a radar transceiver to find and track its target autonomously
    • Homing torpedo, "fire and forget" torpedoes can using passive or active guidance
• Acoustic homing, a system which uses sound to guide a moving object
• Homing (biology), the inherent ability of an animal to navigate towards an original location through unfamiliar areas
  • Homing pigeon, a variety of domestic pigeon bred to find its way home over extremely long distances
• Homing beacon, sometimes homer, a beacon that transmits a signal to be homed on

Homing may also refer to:

• Multiple homing, two types of telephone connections of a terminal facility
• Homing (hematopoietic), a process of cellular migration

Homing is the inherent ability of an animal to navigate towards an original location through unfamiliar areas. This location may be either a home territory, or a breeding spot.

Homing is the phenomenon whereby cells migrate to the organ of their origin. By homing, transplanted hematopoietic cells are able to travel to and engraft or establish residence in the bone marrow. Various chemokines and receptors are involved in the homing of hematopoietic stem cells.

Homing (foaled 1975) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Although he never won at Group One race, he established himself as the leading horse in Europe over one mile in 1978. His early form was moderate, but in the autumn of his three-year-old season he made dramatic improvement to record wide margin victories in the Prix du Rond Point and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. He was retired from racing at the end of the season, having won six of his fourteen races, and had modest success as a breeding stallion.