† sky farmern.
Obsolete.
1. slang. A swindler who solicits money or charity by claiming to be the owner of a farm that has been damaged or destroyed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > poverty > mendicancy > [noun] > beggar > who pretends to be a farmer
sky farmer1748
1748 Gen. Evening Post 5 Nov. Matthew Broom, a noted Sky Farmer, was committed to Clerkenwell-Bridewell..for going about gathering of Alms, with several false and counterfeit Passes.
1756 Gentleman's Mag. 26 566 A set of cheats who..impose on the benevolence and compassion of the charitable; these are called sky-farmers.
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue Sky-farmers, cheats who pretend they were farmers in the isle of sky, or some other remote place,..or else called sky farmers, from their farms being in..the clouds.
2. In Ireland: a tenant farmer of a type considered to be characterized by greedy and unscrupulous practices. Also: a person who colludes with buyers in fixing low prices for goods sold in agricultural markets.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farmer > [noun] > tenant farmer
farmerc1430
fee-farmer1468
renter1593
raiyat1625
farm holder1681
sky farmer1763
métayer1776
gebur1861
mezzadro1882
bywoner1886
1763 J. Irwin Let. 24 June in Museum Rusticum (1764) I. 8 The sky-farmers (those who hold at rack-rents) are mostly so greedy for gain, that [etc.].
1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (Dublin ed.) I. 73 The sky farmers,..that is the petty ones, let potatoe ground..at 6l. an acre.
1824 John Bull 18 Oct. 343 The Limerick Chronicle..states, that a set of depredators, under the name of brokers, or sky farmers, offer continued violence to the country people who come to market with their corn.
1862 Freeman's Jrnl. (Dublin) 30 Oct. John Behan, a sky farmer from Smithfield was..charged with having in his possession a stone and a half weight of hay, which he had pulled from a cart.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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n.1748