# farmer

Pronunciation: US say "FAR-mur" /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/; UK say "FAH-muh" /ˈfɑː.mə/

## Noun

1. A person who works the land or raises livestock, especially as their occupation.
   - Simple: A person who grows crops or raises animals on a farm.
   - _The farmer rotated his crops each year to keep the soil healthy._
   - _Dairy farmers in the region rise before dawn to milk their herds._
2. The owner of a farm, as distinct from a hired farmworker or farmhand employed there. *(British)*
   - Simple: The owner of a farm, not a person paid to work on it.
   - _The farmer holds the title to the land, while the farmhands draw a weekly wage._
   - _Local farmers, not their labourers, attend the agricultural society's meetings._
3. A person who took on the collection of taxes, customs, or excise, keeping a fixed percentage of the amount gathered.
   - Simple: A person who collected taxes or fees and kept part of the money as payment.
   - _The farmer paid the crown a lump sum, then collected far more from the province in taxes._
   - _Royal farmers leased the right to gather customs duties at the busy ports._
4. An ordinary person; specifically, someone who did not receive a prestigious scholarship. *(slang, Singapore)*
   - Simple: An ordinary person, especially someone who did not win a special scholarship.
   - _Among the funded students, anyone paying full tuition got called a farmer._
   - _She shrugged off the label, proud to be a farmer among all the scholarship kids._
5. The lord of the field; one who leased from the crown the right to collect the lot and cope, dues levied on mined ore.
   - Simple: A person who paid for the right to collect the crown's mining dues.
   - _The farmer leased the crown's mining dues and collected them from every pit in the valley._
   - _Local farmers grew wealthy on the lot and cope owed by the lead miners._

## Noun

6. A person who, for payment, took in infants and young children to raise, typically running a rural home for unwanted babies. *(dated)*
   - Simple: A person who was paid to take in and care for unwanted babies and children.
   - _The farmer received a monthly payment for each child left in her care._
   - _Several farmers in the county advertised in newspapers, offering to raise unwanted infants._

## Origin

It comes from Middle English fermour ("a steward, bailiff, tax collector"), from Old French fermier, from Medieval Latin firmarius ("one to whom land is rented, a tax collector"), from firma; it is equivalent to farm plus -er. Compare Old English feormere ("a supplier of food, a grocer, farmer").

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