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peasant
7 dictionary results for: peasant
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
peas·ant       [pez-uhnt] Pronunciation Key
–noun
1.a member of a class of persons, as in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, who are small farmers or farm laborers of low social rank.
2.a coarse, unsophisticated, boorish, uneducated person of little financial means.
–adjective
3.of, pertaining to, or characteristic of peasants or their traditions, way of life, crafts, etc.
4.of or designating a style of clothing modeled on the folk costumes of Western cultures, esp. women's full-sleeved, round-necked blouses and long, full skirts.

[Origin: 1375–1425; late ME paissaunt < AF paisant, OF païsant, earlier païsenc, equiv. to païs country (< LL pāgénsis, equiv. to L pāg(us) country district + -énsis -ensis) + -enc < Gmc (see -ing3)]

peas·ant·like, adjective
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
peas·ant       (pěz'ənt)  Pronunciation Key 
n.  
  1. A member of the class constituted by small farmers and tenants, sharecroppers, and laborers on the land where they form the main labor force in agriculture.
  2. A country person; a rustic.
  3. An uncouth, crude, or ill-bred person; a boor.


[Middle English paissaunt, from Old French paisant, from pais, country, from Late Latin pāgēnsis, inhabitant of a district, from Latin pāgus, district; see pag- in Indo-European roots.]

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
peasant 
c.1410, from Anglo-Fr. paisant (1341), O.Fr. paisent (12c.), earlier paisenc, from pais "country, region" + Frank. suffix -enc "-ing." Pais is from L.L. pagensis "inhabitant of the district," from L. pagus "country or rural district" (see pagan). Peasantry is attested from c.1553.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
peasant

noun
1. a country person 
2. one of a (chiefly European) class of agricultural laborers 
3. a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or refinement 

American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
peasant

A farmer or agricultural worker of low status. The word is applied chiefly to agricultural workers in Asia, Europe, and South America, who generally adhere to traditional agricultural practices and have little social mobility or freedom.


[Chapter:] Anthropology, Psychology, and Sociology


Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Peasant

Peas"ant\, n. [OF. pa["i]sant (the i being perh. due to confusion with the p. pr. of verbs), pa["i]san, F. paysan, fr. OF. & F. pays country, fr. L. pagus the country. See Pagan.] A countryman; a rustic; especially, one of the lowest class of tillers of the soil in European countries.

Syn: Countryman; rustic; swain; hind.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Peasant

Peas"ant\, a. Rustic, rural. --Spenser.

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