/ˈfɛrmtun/, 1900s– fermtoun. farmtownn.
/ˈfɑːmtaʊn/, U.S. /ˈfɑrmˌtaʊn/, Scottish English /ˈfarmtʌʊn//ˈfɛrmtun/, 1900s– fermtoun. Scottish.
The land and buildings belonging to a farm; a farmyard, farmhouse and outbuildings considered as a unit; cf. town n. 1b. Now somewhat archaic.A farmtown typically comprises a three-sided structure enclosing the farmyard, with the main farmhouse occupying one side and the workers' cottages, barns, stables and other outbuildings arranged in rows that project from it.
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the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmstead > [noun]
towneOE
steading1472
farm-steading1533
onstead1551
farmtown1609
homestead1610
farmstead1753
homesteading1812
werf1818
plaas1834
head station1835
1609 in J. Robertson Illustr. Topogr. & Antiq. Aberdeen & Banff (1862) IV. 470 Villas et terras de Fermetoune de Glenkindie.
1636 in D. Littlejohn Rec. Sheriff Court Aberdeenshire (1906) II. 419 Tounes and Landis of Balfluig, Fermetoune, Maynes of Balfluige with the pendicle callit Claymyeir Kardis croft.
1794 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. XII. 577 The greater part of this side of the parish consists of moss and moor, and here and there corn-fields,..with farm-towns at a considerable distance from one another.
1853 J. Grant Jane Seton II. xii. 121 Poor old Hughie followed his horse, which knew right well the drove road that led to his thatched stable, at the back of the auld farm toun.
1952 J. R. Allan North-East Lowlands Scotl. (1974) 69 A toun was in fact a farm—even today we still speak about a farm steading as the farm-toun.
1992 L. W. Wheeler (title) Brockit: the fermtoon cat.
2008 Selkirk Weekly Advertiser (Nexis) 6 June Many of these ‘farm touns’ are now the subject of big buck makeovers by property speculators.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1609