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▪ I. † ˈfarmer1 Obs.
Forms: 5 fyrmar, 6 fermer, fermourer.
[f. farm v.1 + -er1.]
One who cleanses or purifies. In comb. gong-farmer. Obs.
c1440Promp. Parv. 203 Goonge fyrmar [v.r. gonge⁓fowar], cloacarius. c1515Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy Soc.) 3 Than came a gonge fermourer, Other wyse called a masser scourer. Ibid. 11 Stynkynge gonge fermers.
▪ II. farmer2|ˈfɑːmə(r)|
Forms: 4–7 fermour(e, (5 fermowre), 5 farmor, 5–7 fermer, -or, 6 farmar, -our, fermar, 6– farmer. Also 6–7 Sc. fermerer.
[a. AF. fermer (Britton), F. fermier:—med.L. firmārius, f. firma: see farm n.2 Now usually apprehended as agent-n. f. farm v.2 + -er1; some mod. uses may be properly regarded as belonging to this formation and not to the older word.
In the early recorded forms the suffix -er has been replaced by -our, so that the word apparently corresponds to the synonymous med.L. firmātor, one who takes something on lease (Du Cange), agent-n. f. firmāre in sense to contract for, become responsible for.]
1. a. One who undertakes the collection of taxes, revenues, etc., paying a fixed sum for the proceeds.
c1385Chaucer L.G.W. Prol. 358 Hym oughte nat be..crewel As is a fermour to don the harm he can. 1420E.E. Wills (1882) 52 My goodez that is..in þe fermors handes off my rent. 1491Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 14 The Bailly fermour or receivour..for the tyme of the seid Kyng. 1569J. Parkhurst Injunctions, No Parson Vicar, propriatorie or fermer of any benefice, doe [etc.]. 1587Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1539/1 Thomas Smith..farmer of hir majesties customs inwards. 1641Art. Impeachm. Bp. M. Wren in Rushw. Hist. Coll. (1692) iii. I. 354 He..sold..the profits of his Primary Visitation.. and for the better benefit of the Farmer, set forth a Book. 1642Perkins Prof. Bk. i. §5. 3 If a Monke bee farmour unto the Kings Majestie. 1659B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 205 Questioning the Farmers of the Custom-house, for levying Tunnage and Poundage. 1706T. Hearne Collect. 16 Feb., The Priests and Tyth Farmers. 1719W. Wood Surv. Trade 114 These Commodities being under Monopolies in France, the Farmers of them took [etc.]. 1788Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lxiii. 508 Taxes are raised..by means of farmers who advance the money as it is wanted. 1838–42Arnold Hist. Rome III. xlii. 57 He might go out as a farmer of the taxes to Sicily. 1864H. Ainsworth John Law i. v. 98 Contractors, speculators, farmers of revenues, and others.
b. Mining. The lessee of ‘the lot and cope of the king’ (see cope n.3 3).
1653E. Manlove Lead Mines 3 Then one half meer at either end is due And to the Lord or Farmers doth accrew. Ibid. 5 See that right be done..Both to the Lord, and Farmers, on the Mine.
c. The lessee of a government monopoly.
1662J. Davies Voy. Ambass. 194 The King of Persia farms out the fishing..which brings him in..many times more than the Farmers make thereof.
†2. gen. One who rents or has a lease of anything; a lessee. Obs.
1523Act 14–5 Hen. VIII, c. 13 Every owner, fermer, and occupier of the said weres.
3. spec. One who rents land for the purpose of cultivaton; = tenant farmer. Now chiefly as a contextual application of 5.
1487Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 16 The Occupier and Fermer of them..to be discharged against his Lessor of the Rent. 1523Fitzherb. Husb. §123 Though a man be but a farmer, and shall haue hys farme .xx. yeres. 1577Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 133 The yeomen are for the most part farmers to gentlemen.
†4. One who cultivates land for the owner; a bailiff, steward. Obs.
1382Wyclif Luke xvi. 1 Ther was sum riche man, that hadde a fermour, ethir a baily. 1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 281 They shall haue y⊇ kyngdome of heuen, not as baylyes or fermers, but as possessyoners. 1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 145 Architas..sent for his farmour, vnto whome hee sayde, if I [etc.]. 1580Baret Alv. F 146 Fermer, or gouernour of a ferme, villicus.
5. a. One who cultivates a farm, whether as tenant or owner; one who ‘farms’ land, or makes agriculture his occupation.
1599T. M[oufet] Silkwormes Ded., Meaner Theams beseeme a Farmers quill. 1647Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. (1843) 40/2 Many gentlemen and farmers, had..good farms..of their own inheritance. 1666Wood Life (Oxf. Hist. Soc.) II. 86 Many fermers broke..corne being soe cheap. 1771Smollett Humph. Cl. II. 18 July, I eat like a farmer. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 15 The general experience of farmers had long before convinced the unprejudiced. 1849Cobden Speeches 2 We appear here as the farmers friends.
b. dial. The eldest son of the occupier of a farm.
a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia s.v., One labourer would ask another, ‘Did my master set out that job?’ And would be answered, ‘No, my master didn't, but the farmer did’.
6. a. One who undertakes to perform (a specified work or service) at a fixed price.
1865Morn. Star 26 June, It might be the interest of the farmer [of the permanent way] to starve the repairs..as much as possible.
b. One who undertakes the charge of children for a fixed sum. Usually baby-farmer.
1838Dickens O. Twist (1850) 83/1 ‘It's very much blotted, sir’, said the farmer of infants. 1869Greenwood Seven Curses Lond. iii. 45 It is to the ‘farmers'’ interest..to keep down their expenditure in the nursery. Ibid. iii. 57 Anyone however ignorant..may start as a baby farmer.
7. slang.
a. An alderman.
1848Duncombe Sinks of Lond. Gloss. 1859Matsell Vocabulum s.v. (Farmer).
b. A hare (Kent).
c. An ignorant rustic; a stupid or gauche person.
1864Hotten Slang Dict. (ed. 3) 131 Farmer..this term..In London..is used derisively of a countryman, and denotes a farm-labourer, clodpole. 1903A. H. Lewis Boss 263 Me fadder aint such a farmer as to go leavin' his address wit' no one.
d. (See quots.) Naut. slang.
1886R. Brown Spunyarn & Spindrift vi. 89 I'm a farmer to-night, and means to have a quiet and peaceful night's rest. Ibid., A sailor calls himself a farmer when he has neither wheel nor look-out during a night. 1933P. A. Eaddy Hull Down viii. 179, I was a ‘farmer’ that night,..not having any wheel or look-out.
8. Comb.
a. Simple attributive, as farmer-boy, farmer-commonwealth, farmer-proprietary.
b. Similative, as farmer-like, farmer-looking adjs.
1851Literary Gaz. 27 Dec. 924/3 His burly form and uncouth, farmer-looking appearance. 1854G. W. Curtis Lit. & Soc. Ess. (1894) 5 The farmer-boy—sweeping with flashing scythe through the river meadows. 1868Bright in Star 14 Mar., Would it not be possible..to establish to some extent..a farmer proprietary throughout the country? 1874Green Short Hist. i. 3 Each little-farmer-commonwealth was girt in by its own border. 1891Daily News 10 Sept 2/1 A field whose profusion of weeds would have sorely exercised the farmer-like soul of Mr. Poyser. 1957J. Kerouac On Road (1958) iv. 24 The standard North Dakota farmer-boy hat.
c. farmer's (or farmers') lung, a pulmonary disease resulting from sensitization to fungal spores from mouldy hay, etc.
1945Brit. Med. Jrnl. II. 716/1 Farmer's lung..is clinically and radiologically a fairly well characterized disease..commonly believed to be a kind of pulmonary mycosis. 1962Lancet 26 May 1108/2 The test is..often the most convenient way of distinguishing sarcoidosis from..carcinomatosis, pneumoconiosis, or ‘farmer's lung’. 1970Daily Tel. 8 Oct. 9/8 Farmers' lung, a rare disease caused by mouldy hay, killed Mr Joseph Bradley.
▸ farmers' market n. (also farmer's market, farmers market) orig. N. Amer. a market to which farmers bring their produce to sell directly to the public; a building or area designed for this purpose.
1864Delaware County Amer. (Electronic ed.) 7 Dec. Also at the same time and place, will be sold two shares of Stock in the *Farmers' Market. 1936Econ. Geogr. 12 84/1 In other cases the vineyard owner trucks his grapes to the city, where he disposes of them to the consumer at farmers' markets or by peddling. 1998Guardian 12 Nov. ii. 13/4 Self regulation of farmers' markets works because, unlike other markets, the producer is actually selling the goods and is therefore unlikely to display rubbish. |