farmer meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

farmer

noun

US /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ · UK /ˈfɑː.mə/

Etymology From Middle English fermour (“a steward, bailliff, collector of taxes”), from Old French fermier (“a farmer, a lessee, husbandman, bailliff”), from Medieval Latin firmarius (“one to whom land is rented, a collector of taxes, deputy”), from firma; equivalent to farm + -er. Compare Old English feormere (“a purveyor of a guild, a supplier of food, a grocer, farmer”). More at farm.

› Someone or something that farms, as:

Agent A person who works the land and/or who keeps livestock; anyone engaged in agriculture on a farm.

A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):

UK, Agent, Especially More specifically, a farm owner, as distinguished from a farmworker or farmhand as a hired employee thereof.

Historical One who takes taxes, customs, excise, or other duties, to collect for a certain rate per cent.

a farmer of the revenues

Business, Mining Historical The lord of the field, or one who farms the lot and cope of the crown.

Singapore, Slang A regular person; someone who did not receive a prestigious scholarship.

Dated A baby farmer (operator of a rural orphanage).

Synonyms: farmer, husbandman, neif, serf, villein
Derived terms: 45 terms
afternoon farmer, antifarmer, aquafarmer, aura farmer, baby-farmer, book-farmer, chicken farmer, Chinese farmer, click farmer, clip farmer, cockatoo farmer, dairy farmer, dirt farmer, drama farmer, farmer cheese, Farmer City, farmeress, farmerette, farmer-general, farmerhood, farmer in the dell, farmerish, farmerless, farmerlike, farmerly, farmer sausage, farmership, fish farmer, gentleman farmer, gold farmer, gong farmer, hog farmer, karma farmer, marginal farmer, microfarmer, nonfarmer, pig farmer, Pitt Street farmer, sharefarmer, sheep farmer, suitcase farmer, tenant farmer, truck farmer, underfarmer, wind farmer
Related terms: farm, farmboy, farmgirl, farmhand, farmland, farmman, farmwoman, agriculturalist, agriculturist, agripreneur, agronomist, botanist
Hypernyms: person
Hyponyms: crofter, metayer, sharecropper