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farm

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Farm

English

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Photo of a farm, by Ansel Adams

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited 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, supplier, grocer”). Cognate with Scots ferm (“rent, farm”).

Alternative forms

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Noun

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farm (plural farms)

  2. (countable) A place where agricultural and similar activities take place, especially the growing of crops or the raising of livestock.
  3. (countable) A tract of land held on lease for the purpose of cultivation.
  4. (countable, 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[2]:
      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.
  5. (computing, countable) A group of coordinated servers.
    a render farm
    a server farm
  6. (obsolete) Food; provisions; a meal.
  7. (obsolete) A banquet; feast.
  8. (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.
  9. (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.
  10. (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.
  11. The body of farmers of public revenues.
    • 1786, T. Jefferson, Writings (1859) I. 568:
      They despair of a suppression of the Farm.
  12. The condition of being let at a fixed rent; lease; a lease.
    • 1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC:
      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.
  13. (historical) A baby farm.
    • 1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume (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
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Descendants
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  • Hawaiian Creole: farm
  • → Danish: farm
  • → Dutch: farm
  • → Finnish: farmi
  • → German: Farm
  • → Portuguese: farme, farma
  • → Yiddish: פֿאַרם (farm)
  • → Spanish: farmear
  • → Swedish: farm
  • → Thai: ฟาร์ม (faam)
Translations
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Etymology 2

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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

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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
    • 1783 December 1, “Speech on Mr. Fox's East-India Bill”, in The Works of R.H. Edmund Burke, volume 2, spoken by Edmund Burke, published 1855:
      [The East-India Company] have contrived to farm their subjects, and their duties toward these subjects, to that very Nabob, whom they themselves constantly represent as an habitual oppressor and a relentless tyrant.
  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.
  8. (Internet slang, 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 […]
  9. (Internet, often derogatory, in compound terms) To attempt to gain through indiscriminate algorithm-incentivized dissemination, generally with a negative impact on individuals and the internet at large.
    See also: -bait
    • 2023 January 19, Mia Sato, Vincent James, “Inside CNET’s AI-powered SEO money machine”, in The Verge‎[3]:
      This type of SEO farming can be massively lucrative. Digital marketers have built an entire industry on top of credit card affiliate links, from which they then earn a generous profit.
    • 2025 September, Kate Crawford, “Eating the Future: The Metabolic Logic of AI Slop”, in e-flux‎[4]:
      Will AI slop farming ultimately exhaust the soil of online spaces? Will people flee the slop, tolerate it, or even welcome it? Will we ultimately come to love slop?
Derived terms
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Translations
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See also
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References
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Further reading
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Etymology 3

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

    Verb

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    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

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    Dalmatian

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    Alternative forms

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    Etymology

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    From Latin firmus. Compare Italian fermo.

    Adjective

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    farm

    1. still; firm; steady; stationary

    Danish

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English farm.

    Noun

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    farm c (singular definite farmen, plural indefinite farme)

    1. farm

    Declension

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    Declension of farm
    common
    gender     		singular plural
    indefinite definite indefinite definite
    nominative farm farmen farme farmene
    genitive farms farmens farmes farmenes

    Derived terms

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    References

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    Dutch

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    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    farm

    1. inflection of farmen:
      1. first-person singular present indicative
      2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
      3. imperative

    French

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    Etymology

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    Unadapted borrowing from English farm.

    Pronunciation

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    Verb

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    farm

    1. Alternative form of farmer.

    Usage notes

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    This form is especially common among young people on the internet, it is generally used as an infinitive or as a past participle.[1]

    References

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    1. ^ Adam Renwick; Vincent Renner (2025), “Inflection dropping in the English-origin verbs of present-day French: A Twitter-wide exploration”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[1]

    German

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    Verb

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    farm

    1. singular imperative of farmen

    Hawaiian Creole

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    Etymology

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    Derived from English farm.

    Noun

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    farm

    1. (countable) farm (a place where agricultural and similar activities take place, especially the growing of crops or the raising of livestock)
      • 2000, “Matthew 22”, in Joseph Grimes, transl., Da Jesus Book: Hawaii Pidgin New Testament‎[5], Wycliffe Bible Translators, →ISBN, page 66:
        But da peopo he wen tell fo come, dey no care, an dey go way from da guy. Some guys go back to dea farms, an odda guys go back dea stores fo do dea own business.
        But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise.

    Hungarian

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English farm.[1]

    Pronunciation

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    Noun

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    farm (plural farmok)

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

    Declension

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    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

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    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

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

    Icelandic

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    Noun

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    farm

    1. indefinite accusative singular of farmur

    Old English

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    Noun

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    farm f

    1. alternative form of feorm

    Swedish

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    Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:
    Wikipedia sv

    Etymology

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    Borrowed from English farm. First attested in 1753.

    Noun

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    farm c

    1. a farm (for growing crops and/or keeping livestock (in the United States))
      Farmen
      The Farm [a reality television series]
    2. (chiefly in compounds) a farm (for raising certain animals, often for their fur)
      hönsfarm
      chicken farm
      minkfarm
      mink farm
      pälsfarm
      fur farm
      strutsfarm
      ostrich farm

    Declension

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    Declension of farm
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite farm farms
    definite farmen farmens
    plural indefinite farmer farmers
    definite farmerna farmernas
    Declension of farm
    nominative genitive
    singular indefinite farm farms
    definite farmen farmens
    plural indefinite farmar farmars
    definite farmarna farmarnas

    Derived terms

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    Volapük

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    Noun

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    farm (nominative plural farms)

    1. farm

    Declension

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    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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