gentleman-farmer
Americannoun
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a man whose wealth or income from other sources permits him to farm for pleasure rather than for basic income.
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a man whose income from his farm has freed him from the necessity of physical labor.
noun
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a person who engages in farming but does not depend on it for his living
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a person who owns farmland but does not farm it personally
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gentleman-farmer
First recorded in 1740–50
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One-time Governor McCray, now out of the penitentiary, wishing to re-establish a reputation as a gentleman-farmer and honest man, has announced his willingness to tell everything.
From Time Magazine Archive
During his time in office, Arbenz emerged as the owner of a $3,000,000 cotton plantation; his Interior Minister turned into a gentleman-farmer with two coffee fincas; another pal acquired two mansions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Firmly letting it be known that President Roosevelt had not changed his mind about how much new revenue he wanted, the baldish, lanky gentleman-farmer urged revival of processing taxes to supply the $380,000,000 House deficiency.
From Time Magazine Archive
The most talked about young Tory, gentleman-farmer David Eccles, 47, after waiting nervously for a week while 32 other jobs were filled, was made Minister of Works.
From Time Magazine Archive
Of these we may specially mention Mr. Lawrence Twentyman, who was quite the gentleman-farmer.
From The American Senator by Trollope, Anthony
When they come into some money, they move to Normandy and become gentlemen-farmers, foreseeing "mountains of fruit, torrents of flowers, avalanches of vegetables."
From Time Magazine Archive
"But there be four gentlemen-farmers that have come a great distance, and all the first floor is engaged; you will be more out of the noise here."
From Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 15, August, 1851 by Various
He belonged to the class known as gentlemen-farmers, and of that class he was one of the most respected.
From Speeches from the Dock, Part I by Various
The three succeeding Virginia Presidents were sons of gentlemen-farmers, and belonged to the cultivated gentry of the Old Dominion.
From The Nation in a Nutshell by Towle, George M. (George Makepeace)
The excellent grammar-schools in Inverness, Fortrose, and Dunkeld sent out men well-informed, excellent classical scholars, and these from among that order which in England is the most illiterate—the gentlemen-farmers.
From Memoirs of the Jacobites of 1715 and 1745 Volume III. by Thomson, Mrs.
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.
