n.
an area of land and its buildings, used for growing crops and rearing animals.
▸a farmhouse.
▸an establishment for breeding, growing, or producing something:
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a fish farm
a wind farm.
v.
- make one's living as a farmer.
▸use (land) for growing crops and rearing animals.
▸breed or grow (a type of livestock or crop) commercially.
-
(farm someone/thing out)
send out or subcontract work to others.
▸arrange for a child to be looked after by someone.
- historical allow someone to collect and keep the revenues from (a tax) on payment of a fee.
Derivative
Etymology
ME (orig. denoting a fixed annual amount payable as rent or tax): from OFr. ferme, from med. L. firma ‘fixed payment’, from L. firmare ‘fix, settle’; cf. firm2.
