a person who farms; person who operates a farm or cultivates land.
Slang: Disparaging and Offensive. an unsophisticated or ignorant person, especially one from a rural area.
Archaic. a person who undertakes some service, as the care of children or poor people, at a fixed price.
Archaic. a person who undertakes the collection of taxes, duties, etc., paying a fixed sum for the privilege of retaining them.
Cards.
a variety of twenty-one played with a 45-card pack, the object being to obtain cards having a total worth of 16.
the dealer in this game.
Fannie (Merritt) 1857–1915, U.S. authority on cooking.
James (Leonard), 1920–1999, U.S. civil rights leader; founder of CORE.
a person who operates or manages a farm
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
a person who looks after a child for a fixed sum
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.”
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”; see origin at farm, -er 2
A farmer is a person who runs and works on a farm. Some farmers raise a variety of food crops, while others keep dairy cows and sell their milk. Farmers work in some aspect of agriculture, growing vegetables, grains, or fruit; or raising animals for milk, eggs, or meat. A small farmer manages a relatively small piece of land, often growing different crops and keeping hens for their eggs, for example. Some farmers own their farms, while others rent the land on which they work. In the 14th century, a farmer was "one who collects taxes," from the Old French fermier, "lease holder."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some growers are embracing contrast marketing—like West Virginia farmer Eli Cook, who tripled his daily sales to $7,000 after running social posts comparing the safety of his produce to store-bought risk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
“Then when there’s a problem, they realize they’d rather buy their food from a farmer they know and trust.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
In Clovis, the local agency hasn’t yet imposed pumping restrictions, but farmer Susie Borneman Silva said she expects limits soon and doesn’t know how it will affect her small almond orchard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 31, 2026
Ben Andrews, a mixed organic farmer in north Herefordshire, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he has had an abstraction licence restriction since the start of the month.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The farmer gave me his pay for that month—ten dollars—and turned us out of the house.
From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer
Farmer Lloyd Stone, who supplies Riverford Organic Farmers, has been donating produce to Food in Community from his fields near Ashburton for two years.
From BBC ● Jul. 31, 2026
“The circumstances are different between the two states,” said David Farmer, a Maine-based Democratic strategist, “but it’s certainly shaping up to be a strange midterm election with enormous stakes for the country.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 12, 2026
Party wings are another reliable crowd-pleaser: Farmer Focus wings come pre-split, grill quickly and only need a coating of Tabañero BBQ sauce near the end so it can caramelize and get sticky.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
FAO has declared 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, with the agency highlighting how "unrecognised" their vital role is in supporting food security.
From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026
Locals passing us smiled at Farmer and cheerfully said, “Bonjou, Doc mwen”—“Good morning, my Doc.”
From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French
Helen Wakeham, chairperson of the National Drought Group, said: "We are seeing the effects on our farmers, our wildlife, and the amount available for public and business use."
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
It is building a pilot facility in Yuma, Ariz., and is collaborating with farmers and technical experts in Arizona, California and elsewhere to further evaluate hesperaloe’s viability as a commercial crop.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
The Guardian reports on farmers who say that the UK is facing food shortages due to drought.
From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026
Then, on his way home from a run, he stumbled on a loophole: a neighborhood farmers market.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 2, 2026
“The station has a farm. We should bring our cows up and show those space farmers how it’s done!”
From "The Wild Robot Escapes" by Peter Brown
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
