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Farm

 - 6 dictionary results

farm

  [fahrm]
Use Farm in a Sentence
–noun
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 similar, usually commercial, site 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 accepted from a person in view of local or district taxes that he or she is authorized to collect.
7. a tract of land on which an industrial function is carried out, as the drilling or storage of oil or the generation of electricity by solar power.
8. English History.
a. the rent or income from leased property.
b. the condition of being leased at a fixed rent; possession under lease; a lease.
9. 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.
10. Obsolete. a fixed yearly amount payable in the form of rent, taxes, or the like.
–verb (used with object)
11. to cultivate (land).
12. to take the proceeds or profits of (a tax, undertaking, etc.) on paying a fixed sum.
13. to let or lease (taxes, revenues, an enterprise, etc.) to another for a fixed sum or a percentage (often fol. by out).
14. to let or lease the labor or services of (a person) for hire.
15. to contract for the maintenance of (a person, institution, etc.): a county that farms its poor.
–verb (used without object)
16. to cultivate the soil; operate a farm.
—Verb phrase
17. farm out,
a. 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.
b. 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.
c. Chiefly Baseball. to assign (a player) to a farm.
d. to exhaust (farmland) by overcropping.
e. to drill (oil or gas wells), esp. by subcontract on land owned or leased by another.
—Idiom
18. buy the farm, Slang. to die or be killed.
Origin:
1250–1300; ME ferme lease, rented land, rent < AF, OF < VL *ferma, deriv. of *fermāre, for L firmāre to make firm, confirm. See firm 1

Related forms:
farm⋅a⋅ble, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Farm
farm   (färm)   
n.  

  1. A tract of land cultivated for the purpose of agricultural production.

    1. A tract of land devoted to the raising and breeding of domestic animals.

    2. An area of water devoted to the raising, breeding, or production of a specific aquatic animal: a trout farm; an oyster farm.

    3. The system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district.

    4. A district so leased.

  3. An area of land devoted to the storage of a commodity or the emplacement of a group of devices: a tank farm; an antenna farm.

  4. Baseball A minor-league club affiliated with a major-league club for the training of recruits and the maintenance of temporarily unneeded players.

  5. Obsolete

    1. The system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district.

    2. A district so leased.

v.   farmed, farm·ing, farms

v.   tr.

  1. To cultivate or produce a crop on.

  2. To pay a fixed sum in order to have the right to collect and retain profits from (a business, for example).

  3. To turn over (a business, for example) to another in return for the payment of a fixed sum.

v.   intr.
To engage in farming.
Phrasal Verb(s):
farm out

  1. To send (work, for example) from a central point to be done elsewhere.

  2. Baseball To assign (a player) to a minor-league team.


[Middle English, lease, leased property, from Old French ferme, from Medieval Latin firma, fixed payment, from Latin firmāre, to establish, from firmus, firm; see dher- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

farm  (n.)
1297, from O.Fr. ferme "lease," from M.L. firma "fixed payment," from L. firmare "to fix, settle, confirm, strengthen," from firmus "firm" (see firm (adj.)). Sense of "tract of leased land" is first recorded 1334; that of "cultivated land" (leased or not) is 1523. The v., in its agricultural sense, is 1719. Original sense is retained in to farm out. Farmer (1599) replaced native churl, husbandman. Phrase buy the farm "die in battle," is at least from World War II, perhaps a cynical reference to the draftee's dream of getting out of the war and going home, in many cases to a peaceful farmstead. But fetch the farm is prisoner slang from at least 1879 for "get sent to the infirmary," with reference to the better diet and lighter duties there.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Computing Dictionary

farm
processor farm

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Bible Dictionary

Farm

(Matt. 22:5). Every Hebrew had a certain portion of land assigned to him as a possession (Num. 26:33-56). In Egypt the lands all belonged to the king, and the husbandmen were obliged to give him a fifth part of the produce; so in Palestine Jehovah was the sole possessor of the soil, and the people held it by direct tenure from him. By the enactment of Moses, the Hebrews paid a tithe of the produce to Jehovah, which was assigned to the priesthood. Military service when required was also to be rendered by every Hebrew at his own expense. The occuptaion of a husbandman was held in high honour (1 Sam. 11:5-7; 1 Kings 19:19; 2 Chr. 26:10). (See LAND LAWS Ø(n/a); TITHE.)

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

farm

In addition to the idiom beginning with farm, also see buy it (the farm).

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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