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

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 • Jan. 21, 2026

The effects of that reverberate through to companies that farm out their drilling and fracking equipment to oil producers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 8, 2026

I was a kid that was raised on a farm out in the Midwest, and living in nature was very much part of my upbringing.

From Salon • Dec. 21, 2023

The cuts led to rumors that 343 would farm out development of the Halo series to other game companies.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 31, 2023

There's always a temp agency or consulting firm that can farm out someone, but it's hit or miss with temp hires, who typically don't really care.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Related Words

• hire out
• rent out
• subcontract
• sublet