n.
- A tract of land cultivated for the purpose of agricultural production.
- A tract of land devoted to the raising and breeding of domestic animals.
- An area of water devoted to the raising, breeding, or production of a specific aquatic animal: a trout farm; an oyster farm.
- An area of land devoted to the storage of a commodity or the emplacement of a group of devices: a tank farm; an antenna farm.
- Baseball. A minor-league club affiliated with a major-league club for the training of recruits and the maintenance of temporarily unneeded players.
- Obsolete.
- The system of leasing out the rights of collecting and retaining taxes in a certain district.
- A district so leased.
v., farmed, farm·ing, farms. v.tr.
- To cultivate or produce a crop on.
- To pay a fixed sum in order to have the right to collect and retain profits from (a business, for example).
- To turn over (a business, for example) to another in return for the payment of a fixed sum.
To engage in farming.
phrasal verb:
farm out
- To send (work, for example) from a central point to be done elsewhere.
- Baseball. To assign (a player) to a minor-league team.
[Middle English, lease, leased property, from Old French ferme, from Medieval Latin firma, fixed payment, from Latin firmāre, to establish, from firmus, firm.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
