# farm

Pronunciation: US say "FAHRM" /fɑɹm/; UK say "FAHM" /fɑːm/

## Noun

1. An area of land, with its buildings, used for growing crops, raising livestock, and related work, whether worked by its owner or by a tenant.
   - Simple: A place where people grow crops or keep animals for food or other products.
   - _The family has owned a dairy farm in Wisconsin for four generations._
   - _Many farms in the region switched from tobacco to soybeans over the last decade._
3. A site or group of many similar machines or installations working together for one purpose, such as generating power or processing data.
   - Simple: Many similar machines or structures in one place or linked together, doing one job, like making power or storing fuel.
   - _A solar farm now covers the field where the drive-in theater once stood._
   - _The broadcaster maintains an antenna farm on the ridge above the city._

## Verb

2. To work as a farmer; to use land for growing crops or raising animals, or to grow or raise a particular crop or animal commercially.
   - Simple: To grow crops or keep animals on land, as a job or business.
   - _He farms full-time now, after years of splitting his hours with a factory job._
   - _Families who farm in the high desert depend heavily on irrigation._
4. In games and online, to repeat an action many times to collect items, points, wins, or likes, sometimes in a way seen as cheating.
   - Simple: In games or online, to do the same thing again and again to collect rewards or points.
   - _Farming the ice dungeon for rare crafting materials took her all weekend._
   - _Veteran players farm world bosses each week for a chance at legendary gear._
5. Historical: to let out land, a business, or the collection of revenue to someone else in return for rent, a fixed payment, or a share of the proceeds.
   - Simple: In the past, to let someone else use land or collect taxes in return for rent or a share.
   - _Rather than collect customs duties itself, the crown farmed them to private syndicates._
   - _Medieval rulers would often farm their revenues to financiers in return for a share of the proceeds._

## Verb

6. To take land, property, or a right on lease at a fixed rent or rate. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To rent land or other property from someone for a set price.

## Noun

7. Food or provisions; also, a meal, especially a feast. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Food or supplies of food. Also a meal, especially a big meal for a special occasion.

## Other meanings

- (noun) A house or establishment where infants were taken in and looked after in return for payment; a baby farm.
- (noun) A lease at a fixed rent, especially the right granted to a private contractor to collect a tax or public revenue in return for a fixed payment.
- (noun) Historical: a fixed yearly payment, in money or goods, rendered as rent or accepted in place of taxes due.
- (noun) The body of revenue farmers; the group of men who held contracts to collect public taxes in return for fixed payments.
- (verb) To cleanse or clean out; to put in order; to empty out.

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3, 7** — Inherited from Middle English ferme, farme ("rent, revenue, produce"), influenced by Anglo-Norman ferme ("rent, lease, farm") and from Medieval Latin ferma, firma. There is debate over whether the Latin term came from Old English feorm ("rent, provision, feast"), from Proto-Germanic roots meaning "means of living," or from Latin firmus ("solid, secure"), from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to hold."
**Meanings 2, 4–6** — Anglo-Norman fermer, meaning to lease, rent, or let out for a fixed payment, entered Middle English as fermen. The verb and the noun farm ultimately share a source, possibly Old English. Compare Old English feormian, meaning to feed or supply with food.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/farm (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).