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gentleman-farmer

[jen-tl-muh n-fahr-mer]
noun, plural gen·tle·men-farm·ers.
  1. a man whose wealth or income from other sources permits him to farm for pleasure rather than for basic income.
  2. a man whose income from his farm has freed him from the necessity of physical labor.
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Origin of gentleman-farmer

First recorded in 1740–50
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for gentleman-farmer

Historical Examples

  • My father was a yeoman—an independent, or, as he was sometimes styled, a gentleman-farmer.

    The Desert Home

    Mayne Reid

  • We may be allowed to think that the "gentleman-farmer" has chosen the better part.

    South America To-day

    Georges Clemenceau

  • The successful speculator was Mr. Saxon, a gentleman-farmer, near Shepton Mallet.

  • She was very angry because Marriott, a gentleman-farmer from Ambergate, called her the little pole-cat.

    The Rainbow

    D. H. (David Herbert) Lawrence

  • The predominant class is what one might call the gentleman-farmer, with the stress perhaps on “gentleman.”

    Down the Columbia

    Lewis R. Freeman

British Dictionary definitions for gentleman-farmer

gentleman-farmer

noun plural gentlemen-farmers
  1. a person who engages in farming but does not depend on it for his living
  2. a person who owns farmland but does not farm it personally
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012