farm

American  

[fahrm] / fɑrm /

noun

• farms
  plural

1. a tract of land, usually with a house, barn, silo, etc., on which crops and often livestock are raised for livelihood.

2. land or water devoted to the raising of animals, fish, plants, etc..

   a pig farm;

   an oyster farm;

   a tree farm.

3. a site, usually commercial, where a product is manufactured or cultivated.

   a cheese farm;

   a honey farm.

4. the system, method, or act of collecting revenue by leasing a territory in districts.

5. a country or district leased for the collection of revenue.

6. a fixed yearly amount payment of money or goods, accepted in lieu of taxes owed.

7. a tract of land on which an industrial function is carried out, such as the drilling or storage of oil or the generation of electricity by solar power.

8. Informal: Often Disparaging and Offensive. a place or business that serves a specified type of client or customer.

   Sending people to so-called fat farms rarely increases their health.

   Gone are the days when inpatient mental health care was commonly referred to as the “funny farm.”

9. a business or place that turns out specified products or services in the manner of a factory; a mill.

   an online content farm.

10. English History.

    1. the rent or income from leased property.

    2. the condition of being leased at a fixed rent; possession under lease; a lease.

11. Also called farm team, farm club. Chiefly Baseball. a team in a minor league that is owned by or affiliated with a major-league team, for training or keeping players until ready or needed.

12. Obsolete. a fixed yearly amount payable in the form of rent, taxes, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

• farms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• farmed,
  past participle,  past
• farming
  present participle

1. to cultivate (land).

2. to raise (animals, fish, plants, etc.) on land or in water.

3. to take the proceeds or profits of (a tax, undertaking, etc.) on paying a fixed sum.

4. to let or lease (taxes, revenues, an enterprise, etc.) to another for a fixed sum or a percentage (often followed byout ).

5. to let or lease the labor or services of (a person) for hire.

6. to contract for the maintenance of (a person, institution, etc.).

   The county farms its poor.

7. (in a video game) to collect (valuable items) for a character’s use or to sell in the game’s virtual economy by repeatedly performing a task for a reward or killing an enemy for a dropped item.

   I farm crafting supplies just to sell them at the auction house.

verb (used without object)

• farms,
  present (3rd person singular)
• farmed,
  past participle,  past
• farming
  present participle

1. to cultivate the soil; operate a farm.

verb phrase

1. farm out

   1. to assign (work, privileges, or the like) to another by financial agreement; subcontract; lease.

      The busy shipyard farmed out two construction jobs to a smaller yard.

   2. to assign the care of (a child or dependent person) to another.

      She farms her elderly aunt out to a retired nurse during the workweek.

   3. Chiefly Baseball. to assign (a player) to a farm.

   4. to exhaust (farmland) by overcropping.

   5. to drill (oil or gas wells), especially by subcontract on land owned or leased by another.

idioms

1. buy the farm, to die or be killed.

farm British  

/ fɑːm /

noun

1. 1. a tract of land, usually with house and buildings, cultivated as a unit or used to rear livestock

   2. ( as modifier )

      farm produce

   3. ( in combination )

      farmland

2. a unit of land or water devoted to the growing or rearing of some particular type of vegetable, fruit, animal, or fish

   a fish farm

3. an installation for storage

4. a district of which one or more taxes are leased

5. history

   1. a fixed sum paid by an individual or group for the right of collecting and retaining taxes, rents, etc

   2. a fixed sum paid regularly by a town, county, etc, in lieu of taxes

   3. the leasing of a source of revenue to an individual or group

   4. a fixed tax, rent, etc, paid regularly

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verb

1. (tr)

   1. to cultivate (land)

   2. to rear (stock, etc) on a farm

2. (intr) to engage in agricultural work, esp as a way of life

3. (tr) to look after a child for a fixed sum

4. 1. to collect the moneys due and retain the profits from (a tax district, business, etc) for a specified period on payment of a sum or sums

   2. to operate (a franchise) under similar conditions

farm More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing farm

• buy it (the farm)

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Usage

What is a farm? A farm is a plot of land that is used to grow crops and raise livestock, as in On our farm, we raise sheep and sell their wool. The word farm is also used as a verb to mean to work land to grow crops or to raise animals. Farms can be found in nearly every country with land suitable for growing things or feeding animals. A farm usually includes a house where the owner, their family, and their workers live and other buildings, such as a barn to house animals and a silo to store feed or harvested crops. In this same sense, farm means to cultivate the land of a farm or to raise animals on a farm, as in He farms chickens and cows for a living. Often, another word is used with farm to note what kind of crops or animals are found at a given farm. For example, a chicken farm would focus on raising chickens, while a potato farm would be dedicated to growing potatoes. A farm may also be an area of water used to raise fish, aquatic plants, or aquatic animals. For example, you could own a salmon farm where you raise salmon in tanks or enclosed ponds to be sold as food. Example: My grandfather owns a dairy farm where he raises cows and sells milk.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• minifarm
  noun
• superfarm
  noun
• farmable
  adjective
• nonfarm
  adjective
• profarm
  adjective
• unfarmable
  adjective
• unfarmed
  adjective
• well-farmed
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• farms
  plural

Participles

• farming
  present
• farmed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• farm
  simple
• farms
  simple
• have farmed
  perfect
• has farmed
  perfect
• am farming
  progressive
• are farming
  progressive
• is farming
  progressive
• have been farming
  perfect progressive
• has been farming
  perfect progressive

Past

• farmed
  simple
• had farmed
  perfect
• was farming
  progressive
• were farming
  progressive
• had been farming
  perfect progressive

Future

• will farm
  simple
• will have farmed
  perfect
• will be farming
  progressive
• will have been farming
  perfect progressive

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Etymology

Origin of farm

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English ferme “lease, rented land, rent,” from Anglo-French, Old French, from Vulgar Latin ferma (unattested), derivative of fermāre (unattested) for Latin firmāre “to make firm, confirm”; see firm ¹

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Explanation

A farm is a plot of land that's used for growing food crops or raising livestock. A dairy farm might have cows and fields of grass for them to eat. Some farms consist of barns or other buildings, greenhouses, and fields. Small farms often grow a variety of vegetables and raise small numbers of animals such as egg-laying hens and dairy goats. Large farms frequently focus on one crop and operate like factories. To work on a farm is to farm. In the 15th century, to farm was "to rent land," from the Anglo-French ferme, "a lease," from the Latin firmare, "to fix, settle, or strengthen."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

farm farms farmed farming

Nobody gets a quote on air defenses for a server farm unless the server farm has enemies.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 14, 2026

I had grown up on a farm, down a dirt-road in a small town about two hours away.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The park sits on a 90-acre farm in Keynsham, near Bath, and was once a fruit farm after his dad bought the land more than 30 years ago.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

Cerutti, whose farm is an EU-certified protected area, is looking to compensate the lost earnings from the sacrificed paddies by hosting schools and academics, and offering guest accommodation.

From Barron's ● Oct. 12, 2026

Then he saw three farm girls riding toward him.

From "Adventures of Don Quixote" by Argentina Palacios

Pressure to keep food affordable for consumers while farms remain profitable will be a key driver of innovation.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

It operates a network of so-called jack-up barges—floating platforms used to support offshore wind farms and oil-and-gas maintenance activity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

The disease can also lower crop yields and shorten shelf life, making it a costly challenge for mushroom farms across the United States.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026

A major new lawsuit argues the state is taking far too much water out of the Delta, harming native fish and the ecosystem, causing toxic algae blooms, and threatening local farms and communities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

I drew up a map of Sassafras Springs and marked off all the farms and houses I knew of.

From "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs" by Betty G. Birney

Australia's Matt Renshaw played brilliantly for his 190 but was not challenged as he casually farmed the strike and protected Nathan Lyon in their ninth-wicket stand of 134.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Even accounting for fishmeal and transportation to the U.S., the production of certain farmed fish, including tilapia and Atlantic salmon, emits less greenhouse gas per pound than beef or pork.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Arable land farmed by a family for about 80 years is to be restored to an orchard and wildlife area.

From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026

One registered attendee led a project dedicated to shrimp welfare, aiming to cast a spotlight on the hundreds of billions of shrimp that are farmed each year.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026

Dad was born in Fairfield, Maine, where his father ran a general store, farmed, and raised harness-racing horses.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

And that means more precision farming, more artificial intelligence, and automation.

From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026

Elsewhere across Italy, different shades of green and brown reveal variations in vegetation, farming activity, and land cover.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 12, 2026

More recently, he unveiled an executive order temporarily permitting trucks to use dyed diesel, a tax-exempt fuel typically used for farming.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026

Defra will host the first meeting on Wednesday, bringing together the Met Office, Environment Agency and mayoral authorities as well as the farming, water and insurance industries.

From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026

Cargo ships sailed from Soviet ports, their decks crowded with tractors and other farming machines.

From "Fallout: Spies, Superbombs, and the Ultimate Cold War Showdown" by Steve Sheinkin

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Related Words

• acreage
• estate
• field
• garden
• grassland
• homestead
• lawn
• meadow
• nursery
• orchard
• pasture
• plantation
• ranch

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