farm

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See also: Farm

English[edit]

Photo of a farm, by Ansel Adams

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English ferme, farme (“rent, revenue, produce, factor, stewardship, meal, feast”), influenced by Anglo-Norman ferme (“rent, lease, farm”), from Medieval Latin ferma, firma. There is debate as to whether Medieval Latin acquires this term from Old English feorm (“rent, provision, supplies, feast”), from Proto-Germanic *fermō, *firhuma- (“means of living, subsistence”), from Proto-Germanic *ferhwō (“life force, body, being”), from Proto-Indo-European *perkʷ- (“life, force, strength, tree”), or from Latin firmus (“solid, secure”), from Proto-Italic *fermos, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer-mo-s (“holding”), from the root *dʰer- (“to hold”). If the former etymology is correct, the term is related to Old English feorh (“life, spirit”), Icelandic fjör (“life, vitality, vigour, animation”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍈𐌿𐍃 (fairƕus, “the world”). Compare also Old English feormehām (“farm”), feormere (“purveyor”). Cognate with Scots ferm (“rent, farm”).

Alternative forms[edit]

Noun[edit]

farm (plural farms)

  1. A place where agricultural and similar activities take place, especially the growing of crops or the raising of livestock.
  2. A tract of land held on lease for the purpose of cultivation.
  3. (often in combination) A location used for an industrial purpose, having many similar structures.
    antenna farm; fuel farm; solar farm; wind farm
    • 2014 July 25, Suzanne Goldenberg, “Apple eyes solar to power the cloud and iPhone 6 sapphire manufacturing”, in The Guardian‎[1]:
      The skies are threatening to pour on the Apple solar farm but as the woman in-charge of the company’s environmental initiatives points out: the panels are still putting out some power. Apple is still greening its act.
  4. (computing) A group of coordinated servers.
    a render farm
    a server farm
  5. (obsolete) Food; provisions; a meal.
  6. (obsolete) A banquet; feast.
  7. (obsolete) A fixed yearly amount (food, provisions, money, etc.) payable as rent or tax.
    • 1642, J. Perkins, transl., Profitable Bk. (new ed.) xi. §751. 329:
      If a man be bounden unto 1.s. in 100.l.£ to grant unto him the rent and farme of such a Mill.
    • 1700, J. Tyrrell, Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 814:
      All..Tythings shall stand at the old Farm, without any Increase.
    • 1767, W. Blackstone, Comm. Laws Eng. II. 320:
      The most usual and customary feorm or rent..must be reserved yearly on such lease.
  8. (historical) A fixed yearly sum accepted from a person as a composition for taxes or other moneys which he is empowered to collect; also, a fixed charge imposed on a town, county, etc., in respect of a tax or taxes to be collected within its limits.
    • 1876, E. A. Freeman, Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxiv. 439:
      He [the Sheriff] paid into the Exchequer the fixed yearly sum which formed the farm of the shire.
  9. (historical) The letting-out of public revenue to a ‘farmer’; the privilege of farming a tax or taxes.
    • 1885, Edwards in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 580:
      The first farm of postal income was made in 1672.
  10. The body of farmers of public revenues.
    • 1786, T. Jefferson, Writings (1859) I. 568:
      They despair of a suppression of the Farm.
  11. The condition of being let at a fixed rent; lease; a lease.
    • a1599, Spenser, View State Ireland in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) 58:
      It is a great willfullnes in any such Land-lord to refuse to make any longer farmes unto their Tennants.
    • 1647, N. Bacon, Hist. Disc. Govt. 75:
      Thence the Leases so made were called Feormes or Farmes, which word signifieth Victuals.
    • 1818, W. Cruise, Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 68:
      The words demise, lease, and to farm let, are the proper ones to constitute a lease.
  12. (historical) A baby farm.
    • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
      Oliver’s sobs checked his utterance for some minutes; when he was on the point of beginning to relate how he had been brought up at the farm, and carried to the workhouse by Mr. Bumble, a peculiarly impatient little double-knock was heard at the street-door: and the servant, running upstairs, announced Mr. Grimwig.
Derived terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • → Dutch: farm
  • → Finnish: farmi
  • → German: Farm
  • → Portuguese: farme, farma
  • → Yiddish: פֿאַרם (farm)
  • → Spanish: farmear
  • → Thai: ฟาร์ม (faam)
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English fermen, from Anglo-Norman fermer (“to let out for a fixed payment, lease, rent”) ultimately from the same Old English source as Etymology 1. Compare Old English feormian (“to feed, supply with food, sustain”).

Verb[edit]

farm (third-person singular simple present farms, present participle farming, simple past and past participle farmed)

  1. (intransitive) To work on a farm, especially in the growing and harvesting of crops.
  2. (transitive) To devote (land) to farming.
  3. (transitive) To grow (a particular crop).
  4. 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; to farm out.
    to farm the taxes
    • December 1, 1783, Edmund Burke, Speech on Mr. Fox's East-India Bill
      to farm their subjects and their duties toward these
  5. (obsolete, transitive) To lease or let for an equivalent, e.g. land for a rent; to yield the use of to proceeds.
  6. (obsolete, transitive) To take at a certain rent or rate.
    • 1886, The Fortnightly, volume 46, page 530:
      In Paris it is stated that nearly half the birth-rate of the city finds its way to nurses who farm babies in the suburbs.
  7. (video games, chiefly online gaming) To engage in grinding (repetitive activity) in a particular area or against specific enemies for a particular drop or item.
    • 2004, Doug Freyburger, “Pudding Farming Requires Care”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet):
      When you hit a black pudding with an iron weapon that does at least one point of damage there is a good chance it will divide into two black puddings of the same size (but half the hit points IIRC). […] When eaten black puddings confer several intrinsics so AC [armor class] is not the only potential benefit. […] Since black puddings are formidible[sic] monsters for an inexperienced character, farming is also a good way to die.
    • 2010, Robert Alan Brookey, Hollywood Gamers, page 130:
      The practice of gold farming is controversial within gaming communities and violates the end user licensing agreements […]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]

Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.

Further reading[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English fermen, from Old English feormian (“to clean, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *furbēn (“to clean, polish, buff”). Doublet of furbish.

Verb[edit]

farm (third-person singular simple present farms, present participle farming, simple past and past participle farmed)

  1. (UK, dialectal) To cleanse; clean out; put in order; empty; empty out
    Farm out the stable and pigsty.

Anagrams[edit]

Dalmatian[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Latin firmus. Compare Italian fermo.

Adjective[edit]

farm

  1. still, firm, steady, stationary

Dutch[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Verb[edit]

farm

  1. inflection of farmen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. imperative

Hungarian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English farm.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

farm (plural farmok)

  1. farm
    Synonyms: tanya, gazdaság, birtok, földbirtok

Declension[edit]

Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative farm farmok
accusative farmot farmokat
dative farmnak farmoknak
instrumental farmmal farmokkal
causal-final farmért farmokért
translative farmmá farmokká
terminative farmig farmokig
essive-formal farmként farmokként
essive-modal — —
inessive farmban farmokban
superessive farmon farmokon
adessive farmnál farmoknál
illative farmba farmokba
sublative farmra farmokra
allative farmhoz farmokhoz
elative farmból farmokból
delative farmról farmokról
ablative farmtól farmoktól
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		farmé farmoké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		farméi farmokéi
Possessive forms of farm
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. farmom farmjaim
2nd person sing. farmod farmjaid
3rd person sing. farmja farmjai
1st person plural farmunk farmjaink
2nd person plural farmotok farmjaitok
3rd person plural farmjuk farmjaik

References[edit]

  1. ^ Tótfalusi, István. Idegenszó-tár: Idegen szavak értelmező és etimológiai szótára (’A Storehouse of Foreign Words: an explanatory and etymological dictionary of foreign words’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2005. →ISBN

Further reading[edit]

  • farm in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
  • farm in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)

Icelandic[edit]

Noun[edit]

farm

  1. indefinite accusative singular of farmur

Volapük[edit]

Noun[edit]

farm (nominative plural farms)

  1. farm

Declension[edit]

declension of farm
singular plural
nominative farm farms
genitive farma farmas
dative farme farmes
accusative farmi farmis
vocative 1 o farm! o farms!
predicative 2 farmu farmus
  • 1 status as a case is disputed
  • 2 in later, non-classical Volapük only
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