métayer

[ met-uh-yey, mey-tuh- ]

noun
  1. a person who works the land using tools, seed, etc., furnished by the landlord and who receives a share of the harvest in compensation.

Origin of métayer

1
1770–80; <French <Medieval Latin medietārius, equivalent to mediet(ās) (see moiety) + -ārius-ary

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use métayer in a sentence

  • But the truth is that the métayer was not a free tenant in the sense which we attach to the word.

  • Jamet métayer paid twenty crowns for four sheets in Italics; he demanded three months for the work.

    The Printed Book | Henri Bouchot
  • The workshop of Jamet métayer, of Tours, cost a rent of eighty-three crowns—about twenty pounds of current money.

    The Printed Book | Henri Bouchot
  • Would he—on the métayer system—consent to give half of his harvest to the landowner?

    The Conquest of Bread | Peter Kropotkin
  • The land was already cultivated on the métayer system, half the crop going to the tenant—a state of things advantageous all round.

    The Evolution of States | J. M. Robertson