husbandman

English

Etymology

From Middle English husbandman, husbondman, equivalent to husband +‎ -man.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhəzbəndmən/

Noun

husbandman (plural husbandmen)

1. (dated) a person who raises crops and tends animals; a farmer
   • 1606, Thomas Knages, The last will and testament of Thomas Knages (1533-1606):

     The xviii day of May in the fourth yeare of the Raigne of the kinge most excellent Monarche and in the year of our lord god 1606 I Thomas Knages of Lythe within the county of york husbandman sicke in body but whole in mynde and in perfect remembrance praised be to god do make and ordayne this my last will and testament in manner and forme following . . -

   • 1684 Thomas Tusser, born at Riven-hall, was successively a Musician, School-master, Serving-man, and a Speculative Husbandman; - Anglorum Speculum: Or The Worthies of England, in Church and State - Thomas Fuller
   • 1843 April, Thomas Carlyle, “ch. XVII, The beginnings”, in Past and Present, American edition, Boston, Mass.: Charles C[offin] Little and James Brown, published 1843, →OCLC, book II (The Ancient Monk):

     Valiant Wisdom tilling and draining; escorted by owl-eyed Pedantry, by owlish and vulturish and many other forms of Folly; — the valiant husbandman assiduously tilling; the blind greedy enemy too assiduously sowing tares!

   • 1844, Jean Calvin, Works:

     The husbandman must labour before he receives the fruits

   • 1995, Louise Schleiner, Cultural Semiotics, Spenser, and the Captive Woman:

     The 'respected chaste female' is actorialized as a chopping, female husbandman …

Related terms

• husbander
• husbandland
• husbandry