farmer

¹

[fahr-mer]

noun

1. a person who farms; person who operates a farm or cultivates land.

2. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.,  an unsophisticated or ignorant person, especially one from a rural area.

3. Archaic.,  a person who undertakes some service, as the care of children or poor people, at a fixed price.

4. Archaic.,  a person who undertakes the collection of taxes, duties, etc., paying a fixed sum for the privilege of retaining them.

5. Cards.

   1. a variety of twenty-one played with a 45-card pack, the object being to obtain cards having a total worth of 16.

   2. the dealer in this game.

Farmer

²

[fahr-mer]

noun

1. Fannie (Merritt) 1857–1915, U.S. authority on cooking.

2. James (Leonard), 1920–1999, U.S. civil rights leader; founder of CORE.

farmer

¹

/ ˈfɑːmə /

noun

1. a person who operates or manages a farm

2. a person who obtains the right to collect and retain a tax, rent, etc, or operate a franchise for a specified period on payment of a fee

3. a person who looks after a child for a fixed sum

Farmer

²

/ ˈfɑːmə /

noun

1. John. ?1565–1605, English madrigal composer and organist

Sensitive Note

The word farmer has been used as a derogatory term for an ignorant or unsophisticated person, especially one from a rural area (whether an actual farmer or not), since the 1800's. A couple of citations illustrate this. One early example is found in Artie by George Ade (1896): “I may be a farmer, but it takes better people than you to sling the bull con into me,” uttered by the title character Artie, who is a young office worker and not a farmer. A book review in The Guardian (August 21, 2001) shows a more recent use: “I worked in a couple of those bars where you hustle champagne. They were businessmen, they weren't naive farmers.”

Other Word Forms

• farmerlike adjective
• profarmer adjective
• underfarmer noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of farmer¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English fermer, fermour, from Anglo-French, Old French fermier “collector of revenue,” from Medieval Latin firmārius “one who holds lands or tenement for a fixed number of years or for life”; farm, -er ²

Example Sentences

The Farm Bureau, he said, “will continue working with its agricultural coalition to advocate for science-based food classification standards and ensure that legislation supports farmers in adapting to changes.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The 355-247 majority vote is seen as a victory for livestock farmers who say the labels threaten their industry and livelihoods.

Read more on BBC

The government has defended ending the subsidy which it says will save $1.1bn a year that can be distributed to small-scale farmers and people in the transport sector.

Read more on BBC

Its nickname recalls a time when farmers would use the moon's brightness to collect crops in the evening.

Read more on BBC

Now one group is poised to get relief: farmers.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• grower 
• laborer 
• peasant 
• producer 
• rancher