Adjacent Words

Farm definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

F'ARM, n.
1. A tract of land leased on rent reserved; ground let to a tenant on condition of his paying a certain sum annually or otherwise for the use of it. A farm is usually such a portion of land as is cultivated by one man, and includes the buildings and fences. Rents were formerly pain in provisions, or the produce of land; but now they are generally paid in money.
This is the signification of farm in Great Britain, where most of the land is leased to cultivators.
2. In the United States, a portion or tract of land, consisting usually of grass land, meadow, pasture, tillage and woodland, cultivated by one man and usually owned by him in fee. A like tract of land under lease is called a farm; but most cultivators are proprietors of the land, and called farmers.
A tract of new land, covered with forest, if intended to be cultivated by one man as owner, is also called a farm. A man goes into the new States, or into the unsettled country, to buy a farm, that is, land for a farm.
3. The state of land leased on rent reserved; a lease.
It is great wilfulness in landlords to make any longer farms to their tenants.
F'ARM, v.t.
1. To lease, as land, on rent reserved; to let to a tenant on condition of paying rent.
We are enforced to farm our royal realm.
[In this sense, I believe, the word is not used in America.]
2. To take at a certain rent or rate. [Not used in America.]
3. To lease or let, as taxes, impost or other duties, at a certain sum or rate per cent. It is customary in many countries for the prince or government to farm the revenues, the taxes or rents, the imposts and excise, to individuals, who are to collect and pay them to the government at a certain percentage or rate per cent.
4. To take or hire for a certain rate per cent.
5. To cultivate land.
To farm let, or let to farm, is to lease on rent.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: workplace consisting of farm buildings and cultivated land as a unit; "it takes several people to work the farm" v
1: be a farmer; work as a farmer; "My son is farming in California"
2: collect fees or profits
3: cultivate by growing, often involving improvements by means of agricultural techniques; "The Bordeaux region produces great red wines"; "They produce good ham in Parma"; "We grow wheat here"; "We raise hogs here" [syn: grow, raise, farm, produce]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English ferme, from Anglo-French, from fermer to fix, rent, from Latin firmare to make firm, from firmus firm Date: 14th century 1. obsolete a sum or due fixed in amount and payable at fixed intervals 2. a letting out of revenues or taxes for a fixed sum to one authorized to collect and retain them 3. a district or division of a country leased out for the collection of government revenues 4. a tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes 5. a. a plot of land devoted to the raising of animals and especially domestic livestock b. a tract of water reserved for the artificial cultivation of some aquatic life form <a fish farm> 6. a minor-league team (as in baseball) associated with a major-league team as a subsidiary 7. an area containing a number of similar structures or objects (as radio antennas or storage tanks) II. verb Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. obsolete rent 2. to collect and take the fees or profits of (an occupation or business) on payment of a fixed sum 3. to give up (as an estate or a business) to another on condition of receiving in return a fixed sum 4. a. to devote to agriculture b. to manage and cultivate as a farm c. to grow or cultivate in quantity <farm trees for fuel> <farm salmon> intransitive verb to engage in raising crops, animals, or fish

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 an area of land and its buildings used under one management for growing crops, rearing animals, etc. 2 a place or establishment for breeding a particular type of animal, growing fruit, etc. (trout-farm; mink-farm). 3 = FARMHOUSE. 4 a place for the storage of oil or oil products. 5 = sewage farm. --v. 1 a tr. use (land) for growing crops, rearing animals, etc. b intr. be a farmer; work on a farm. 2 tr. breed (fish etc.) commercially. 3 tr. (often foll. by out) a delegate or subcontract (work) to others. b contract (the collection of taxes) to another for a fee. c arrange for (a person, esp. a child) to be looked after by another, with payment. 4 tr. let the labour of (a person) for hire. 5 tr. contract to maintain and care for (a person, esp. a child) for a fixed sum. Phrases and idioms: farm-hand a worker on a farm. Derivatives: farmable adj. farming n. Etymology: ME f. OF ferme f. med.L firma fixed payment f. L firmus FIRM(1): orig. applied only to leased land

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Farm Farm, n. [OE. ferme rent, lease, F. ferme, LL. firma, fr. L. firmus firm, fast, firmare to make firm or fast. See Firm, a. & n.] 1. The rent of land, -- originally paid by reservation of part of its products. [Obs.] 2. The term or tenure of a lease of land for cultivation; a leasehold. [Obs.] It is great willfulness in landlords to make any longer farms to their tenants. --Spenser. 3. The land held under lease and by payment of rent for the purpose of cultivation. 4. Any tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes, under the management of a tenant or the owner. Note: In English the ideas of a lease, a term, and a rent, continue to be in a great degree inseparable, even from the popular meaning of a farm, as they are entirely so from the legal sense. --Burrill. 5. A district of country leased (or farmed) out for the collection of the revenues of government. The province was devided into twelve farms. --Burke. 6. (O. Eng. Law) A lease of the imposts on particular goods; as, the sugar farm, the silk farm. Whereas G. H. held the farm of sugars upon a rent of 10,000 marks per annum. --State Trials (1196).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Farm Farm, v. i. To engage in the business of tilling the soil; to labor as a farmer.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Farm Farm, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Farmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Farming.] 1. To lease or let for an equivalent, as land for a rent; to yield the use of to proceeds. We are enforced to farm our royal realm. --Shak. 2. To give up to another, as an estate, a business, the revenue, etc., on condition of receiving in return a percentage of what it yields; as, to farm the taxes. To farm their subjects and their duties toward these. --Burke. 3. To take at a certain rent or rate. 4. To devote (land) to agriculture; to cultivate, as land; to till, as a farm. To farm let, To let to farm, to lease on rent.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(farms, farming, farmed) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A farm is an area of land, together with the buildings on it, that is used for growing crops or raising animals, usually in order to sell them. Farms in France are much smaller than those in the United States or even Britain. N-COUNT 2. If you farm an area of land, you grow crops or keep animals on it. They farmed some of the best land in Scotland... He has lived and farmed in the area for 46 years. VERB: V n, V 3. A mink farm or a fish farm, for example, is a place where a particular kind of animal or fish is bred and kept in large quantities in order to be sold. ...trout fresh from a local trout farm. N-COUNT: n N

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Matt. 22:5). Every Hebrew had a certain portion of land assigned to him as a possession (Num. 26:33-56). In Egypt the lands all belonged to the king, and the husbandmen were obliged to give him a fifth part of the produce; so in Palestine Jehovah was the sole possessor of the soil, and the people held it by direct tenure from him. By the enactment of Moses, the Hebrews paid a tithe of the produce to Jehovah, which was assigned to the priesthood. Military service when required was also to be rendered by every Hebrew at his own expense. The occuptaion of a husbandman was held in high honour (1 Sam. 11:5-7; 1 Kings 19:19; 2 Chr. 26:10). (See LAND LAWS ?(n/a); TITHE.)

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

farm: Mt 22:5 is the only passage where agros, has been rendered "farm." In the many other passages where the same word occurs it is rendered "field" or "piece of ground." Farms such as the Occidental is accustomed to see, namely, isolated dwellings with their groups of outbuildings, surrounded by walls or hedges and overlooking the planted fields, were probably unknown in Palestine. For protection against wild beasts and Arab marauders everyone lived in a village and went out to his fields, located perhaps miles away, only as occasion required.

James A. Patch

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Landed estate. II. v. a. 1. Let out (land, revenues, etc.). 2. Take on lease (land, revenues, etc.). 3. Cultivate (land), till. III. v. n. Till the soil, carry on a farm, do farmer's work, practise husbandry.

Moby Thesaurus

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