English Online Dictionary. What means farm? What does farm mean?
English
Pronunciation
- (US, Canada) enPR: färm, IPA(key): /fɑːɹm/
- (UK) IPA(key): /fɑːm/
- Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)m
Etymology 1
From Middle English ferme, farme (“rent, revenue, produce, factor, stewardship, meal, feast”), influenced by Anglo-Norman ferme (“rent, lease, farm”), from Medieval Latin ferma, firma. Both from Old English feorm, fearm, farm (“provision, food, supplies, provisions supplied by a tenant or vassal to his lord, rent, possessions, stores, feast, entertainment, haven”), from Proto-Germanic *fermō (“means of living, subsistence”), from Proto-Germanic *ferhwō, *ferhuz (“life force, body, being”), from Proto-Indo-European *perkʷ- (“life, force, strength, tree”).
Cognate with Scots ferm (“rent, farm”). Related also to Old English feorh (“life, spirit”), Old High German ferah (“life, body, being”), Icelandic fjör (“life, vitality, vigour, animation”), Gothic 𐍆𐌰𐌹𐍂𐍈𐌿𐍃 (fairƕus, “the world”). Compare also Old English feormehām (“farm”), feormere (“purveyor, grocer”).
Old English feorm is the origin of Medieval Latin ferma, firma (“farm", also "feast”) (whence also Old French ferme, Occitan ferma), instead of the historically assumed derivation from unrelated Latin firma (“firm, solid”), which shares the same form. The sense of "rent, fixed payment", which was already present in the Old English word, may have been further strengthened due to resemblance to Latin firmitas (“security, surety”). Additionally, Old French ferme continued to shape the development of the English word throughout the Middle English period.
Alternative forms
- feorm (historical)
- ferme (obsolete)
Noun
farm (plural farms)
- A place where agricultural and similar activities take place, especially the growing of crops or the raising of livestock.
- A tract of land held on lease for the purpose of cultivation.
- (often in combination) A location used for an industrial purpose, having many similar structures.
- (computing) A group of coordinated servers.
- (obsolete) Food; provisions; a meal.
- (obsolete) A banquet; feast.
- (obsolete) A fixed yearly amount (food, provisions, money, etc.) payable as rent or tax.
- (historical) A fixed yearly sum accepted from a person as a composition for taxes or other moneys which he is empowered to collect; also, a fixed charge imposed on a town, county, etc., in respect of a tax or taxes to be collected within its limits.
- (historical) The letting-out of public revenue to a ‘farmer’; the privilege of farming a tax or taxes.
- 1885, Edwards in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 580:
- The first farm of postal income was made in 1672.
- 1885, Edwards in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 580:
- The body of farmers of public revenues.
- The condition of being let at a fixed rent; lease; a lease.
- a1599, Spenser, View State Ireland in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) 58:
- It is a great willfullnes in any such Land-lord to refuse to make any longer farmes unto their Tennants.
- a1599, Spenser, View State Ireland in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) 58:
- (historical) A baby farm.
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Dutch: farm
- → Finnish: farmi
- → German: Farm
- → Portuguese: farme, farma
- → Yiddish: פֿאַרם (farm)
- → Spanish: farmear
- → Thai: ฟาร์ม (faam)
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English fermen, from Anglo-Norman fermer (“to let out for a fixed payment, lease, rent”) ultimately from the same Old English source as Etymology 1. Compare Old English feormian (“to feed, supply with food, sustain”).
Verb
farm (third-person singular simple present farms, present participle farming, simple past and past participle farmed)
- (intransitive) To work on a farm, especially in the growing and harvesting of crops.
- (transitive) To devote (land) to farming.
- (transitive) To grow (a particular crop).
- To give up to another, as an estate, a business, the revenue, etc., on condition of receiving in return a percentage of what it yields; to farm out.
- December 1, 1783, Edmund Burke, Speech on Mr. Fox's East-India Bill
- to farm their subjects and their duties toward these
- December 1, 1783, Edmund Burke, Speech on Mr. Fox's East-India Bill
- (obsolete, transitive) To lease or let for an equivalent, e.g. land for a rent; to yield the use of to proceeds.
- (obsolete, transitive) To take at a certain rent or rate.
- (video games, chiefly online gaming) To engage in grinding (repetitive activity) in a particular area or against specific enemies for a particular drop or item.
Derived terms
Translations
See also
- agriculture
- north forty
References
Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
Further reading
- farm on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Etymology 3
From Middle English fermen, from Old English feormian (“to clean, cleanse”), from Proto-West Germanic *furbēn (“to clean, polish, buff”). Doublet of furbish.
Verb
farm (third-person singular simple present farms, present participle farming, simple past and past participle farmed)
- (UK, dialectal) To cleanse; clean out; put in order; empty; empty out
- Farm out the stable and pigsty.
Anagrams
- AFRM
Dalmatian
Alternative forms
- fiarm
Etymology
From Latin firmus. Compare Italian fermo.
Adjective
farm
- still, firm, steady, stationary
Dutch
Pronunciation
Verb
farm
- inflection of farmen:
- first-person singular present indicative
- imperative
Hungarian
Etymology
Borrowed from English farm.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [ˈfɒrm]
- Hyphenation: farm
- Rhymes: -ɒrm
Noun
farm (plural farmok)
- farm
- Synonyms: tanya, gazdaság, birtok, földbirtok
Declension
References
Further reading
- farm in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
- farm in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (‘A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2024)
Icelandic
Noun
farm
- indefinite accusative singular of farmur
Volapük
Noun
farm (nominative plural farms)
- farm