farm
[fahrm]
| 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.
|
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 16. | to cultivate the soil; operate a farm. |
| 17. | farm out,
|
| 18. | buy the farm, Slang. to die or be killed. |
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

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Farm
Farm\, n. [OE. ferme rent, lease, F. ferme, LL. firma, fr. L. firmus firm, fast, firmare to make firm or fast. See Firm, a. & n.]1. The rent of land, -- originally paid by reservation of part of its products. [Obs.] 2. The term or tenure of a lease of land for cultivation; a leasehold. [Obs.] It is great willfulness in landlords to make any longer farms to their tenants. --Spenser. 3. The land held under lease and by payment of rent for the purpose of cultivation. 4. Any tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes, under the management of a tenant or the owner. Note: In English the ideas of a lease, a term, and a rent, continue to be in a great degree inseparable, even from the popular meaning of a farm, as they are entirely so from the legal sense. --Burrill. 5. A district of country leased (or farmed) out for the collection of the revenues of government. The province was devided into twelve farms. --Burke. 6. (O. Eng. Law) A lease of the imposts on particular goods; as, the sugar farm, the silk farm. Whereas G. H. held the farm of sugars upon a rent of 10,000 marks per annum. --State Trials (1196).Farm
Farm\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Farmed; p. pr. & vb. n. Farming.]1. To lease or let for an equivalent, as land for a rent; to yield the use of to proceeds. We are enforced to farm our royal realm. --Shak. 2. To give up to another, as an estate, a business, the revenue, etc., on condition of receiving in return a percentage of what it yields; as, to farm the taxes. To farm their subjects and their duties toward these. --Burke. 3. To take at a certain rent or rate. 4. To devote (land) to agriculture; to cultivate, as land; to till, as a farm. To farm let, To let to farm, to lease on rent.Farm
Farm\, v. i. To engage in the business of tilling the soil; to labor as a farmer.Cite This Source
farm (n.)
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farm
processor farm
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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.)
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farm
In addition to the idiom beginning with farm, also see buy it (the farm).
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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