Variously I have attempted to define Khutor/Hutor, depending on which dictionary I was using, but now I found a very technically, historically precise definition in a 19th publication: KHUTOR (Hutor): 3 definitions for the Volga area - any Ukrainian / Maloruss / Little Russian settlements which do not have a church; or - a small hamlet, usually composed of a single homestead, populated by settlers from another district or gubernia (i.e. non-locals); or - farming homestead (main farm-house) standing in the middle of privately-owned farm(land) which employs farm-workers/ labourers. - -