homing
Returning to base
Homing describes the ability or tendency to return to a home location, or the mechanism that guides something toward a target.
Homing pigeons navigate back to their roosts over remarkable distances.
A homing beacon guides aircraft.
Homing missiles lock onto and pursue their targets: The submarine launched a homing torpedo.
To home in on something is to move toward it with precision.
Movement to new territory
- salmonPink-fleshed migratory fish
- pigeonStout urban bird
- geesePlural of goose
- monarchHereditary supreme ruler
sea-turtle · innate · behavior · orientation · biological · nesting · imprinting · territorial
Self-guided airborne weapon
- torpedoPropelled undersea explosive
- beaconGuiding light source
- radarRadio-wave object detection
- targetingSelecting as objective
tracking · signal · frequency · transponder · device · system · lock-on · seeker
Gathering after separation
- repatriationFormal return to homeland
- journeyTravel from place to place
- destinationIntended arrival point
- roostBird's sleeping spot
loft · coop · dovecote · retrieval · comeback · housebound · reentry · wayward
migration
Movement to new territory
monarch · sea-turtle · innate · behavior · orientation · biological · nesting · imprinting · territorial · spawning
missile
Self-guided airborne weapon
targeting · tracking · signal · frequency · transponder · device · system · lock-on · seeker · warhead
reunion
Gathering after separation
- repatriationFormal return to homeland
- journeyTravel from place to place
- destinationIntended arrival point
roost · loft · coop · dovecote · retrieval · comeback · housebound · reentry · wayward · lost
- animal behavioranimal behavior, instincts, learned behavior, conditioning, social behavior
- roboticsrobot, android, humanoid, robotic arm, servo
- missile warfaremissile, cruise missile, guidance, warhead, launcher
- cell signalingreceptor, ligand, receptors, signaling, kinase
- Jumping Genestransposition, mariner, Sleeping Beauty, Hermes, cut and paste
- memoryremember, forget, recall, memorize, recollect
homingdisorienting
Causing loss of direction
lost · wayward · astray · off-course · disoriented
- homing inApproaching a target precisely
- homing pigeonsBirds bred to return
- homing deviceTransmitter revealing position
- homing instinctInnate ability to return
- homing beaconSignal for finding position