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

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

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

From The Wall Street Journal

The notice also indicates a significant change from the VA’s practice of farming out construction with long-term leases that require developers to obtain their own financing.

From Los Angeles Times

In late 2022, after ChatGPT launched, many schools initially banned AI, fearing it would be used to churn out term papers, compose presentations and farm out math homework.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• hire out
• rent out
• subcontract
• sublet