farm out

British  

verb

1. to send (work) to be done by another person, firm, etc; subcontract

2. to put (a child, etc) into the care of a private individual; foster

3. to lease to another for a rent or fee the right to operate (a business for profit, land, etc) or the right to collect (taxes)

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farm out Idioms  

1. Assign something to an outsider; subcontract something. For example, The contractor was so busy he had to farm out two jobs to a colleague, or When their mother was hospitalized, the children had to be farmed out to the nearest relatives. This term originally referred to letting or leasing land. Today it usually refers to subcontracting work or the care of a dependent to another. In baseball it means “to assign a player to a lesser (farm) league,” as opposed to a big league. [Mid-1600s]

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Example Sentences

The British chip designer has long been in the business of farming out designs.

From The Wall Street Journal

Consumers are farming out everyday tasks to automated agents, and are expected to use those tools for shopping more as well.

From The Wall Street Journal

ADP’s figures are based on job-creation data gleaned from the millions of businesses that farm out their payroll operations to the Roseland, N.J.-based company.

From The Wall Street Journal

All they had to do was come down and make a farm out of it.

From Literature

Ubisoft's restructuring will farm out many of its dozens of studios worldwide into an industry-first system of five "creative houses", each dedicated to developing a different genre of game.

From Barron's

Related Words

• hire out
• rent out
• subcontract
• sublet