farm--prophetes.ai

▪ I. † farm, n.¹ Obs.
    Forms: 1 feorm (Northumb. færm), 2 ferm, 3 south. veorme, 4 form, 5 farme.
    [OE. feorm str. fem.:—prehistoric *fermâ.
    Not found outside Eng., and no satisfactory Teut. etymology has been proposed. On the assumption that the primary sense was ‘fixed portion of provisions, ration’, it would be admissible to regard the word as a. late L. firma, and so ultimately identical with farm n.² In Domesday Book firma unius noctis is equivalent to anes nihtes feorme of quot. c 1122 below; and mediæval Lat. writers in England used firma in the sense of ‘banquet’. If the hypothesis of its Latin origin be correct, the word must have been adopted at a very early date: it occurs frequently in the oldest poetry. The derivative feormian to feed, is found in the Corpus Glossary a 800 (‘fovet, feormat, broedeþ’, the corresponding OHG. gloss. ‘formot, fofet’ in St. Gall. MS. 913 may be derived from an OE. source, the vb. being otherwise unknown in OHG.]
    Food, provision; hence, a banquet, feast.

Beowulf 451 No ðu ymb mines ne þearft lices feorme leng sorᵹian. a 900 Charter xli. in O.E. Texts (1885) 449 Hio forgifeð fiftene pund for ðy ðe mon ðas feorme ðy soel ᵹelæste. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxii. 4 Nu ic ᵹegearwode mine feorme, mine fearras and mine fuᵹelas synt ofsleᵹne. c 1122 O.E. Chron. (Peterborough) an. 777 Cuðbriht geaf þone abbote .l. punde..& ilca ᵹear anes nihtes feorme. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 11 At ferme and at feste. c 1205 Lay. 14426 Þæt þe king makede ueorme swiðe store. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 217 Ȝif he wolde come to his form he schulde have salt mete i-now. a 1500 Chaucer's Dreme 1752 This hasty farme had bene a feast.

▪ II. farm, n.²
    (fɑːm)
    Forms: 3–7 ferm(e, (5 feerme, fereme, 6 fearme), 5–7 farme, (8–9 Hist. ferm, pseudo-arch. feorm), 6– farm.
    [a. F. ferme:—med.L. firma fixed payment, f. firmāre to fix, settle, confirm, f. firmus firm a. (The med.L. word, by a different application of the etymological sense, means also ‘confirmation of a document, signature’; so Sp. and It. firma: see firm n.)]
    † 1. A fixed yearly amount (whether in money or in kind) payable as rent, tax, or the like (as opposed to a rent, tax, etc., of variable amount, e.g. one calculated at a certain proportion of the produce). Also rent and farm. Obs.

a 1400 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 350 Euerych gret hows in wham me workeþ þe qwyltes, shal to þe ferme v.s. by þe ȝere. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 156 Feerme, a rent, firma. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 596 in Babees Bk. (1868) 319 Of þe resayuer speke wylle I, Þat fermys resayuys wytturly. 1463 Bury Wills (1850) 19, I wyl eche of hem alle haue iiijd. to drynkke whanne they pay her ferme. 1463 M. Paston in Paston Lett. No. 975 III. 431 They..haskyd hem rent and ferme and they seydyn they had payed you. 1487 Churchw. Acc. Wigtoft, Lincolnshire (Nichols 1797) 84 Robert Peby oweth for ferme of a salt-panne of 16 stone of lede 1s. 2d. 1527 Bury Wills (1850) 118 The yearlie ffearme of iij acres londe. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 11 Takaris of ouir mekil mail or farme to the herschipe of the tenentis. 1642 Perkins Prof. Bk. xi. §751. 329 If a man be bounden unto 1s. in 100{pstlg} to grant unto him the rent and farme of such a mill. 1700 Tyrrell Hist. Eng. II. 814 All..Tythings shall stand at the old Farm, without any Increase. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 320 The most usual and customary feorm or rent..must be reserved yearly on such lease.

2. a. 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. Cf. farm v. Obs. exc. Hist.

c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 252 b (Hengwrt) He was the beste beggere of his hous: [And yaf a certeyn ferme for the graunt]. 1565 Act 8 Eliz. c. 12 §1 The said Aulneger..standeth charged with the Payment of a great annual Farm to the Queens Majesty for the said Aulnege. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. lxvii. (1739) 172 The King..raised the values of the Farm of Counties granted to the Sheriffs. a 1715 Burnet Own Time (1766) II. 184 He got undertakers to offer at a farm of the whole revenue. 1861 Riley Liber Albus 39 One half of the ferm of the City due to the King. 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. V. xxiv. 439 He [the Sheriff] paid into the Exchequer the fixed yearly sum which formed the farm of the shire.

b. The letting-out of public revenue to a ‘farmer’; the privilege of farming a tax or taxes. Obs. exc. Hist.

1667 Pepys Diary 3 Aug., I find them mighty hot..against the present farm of the Customes. 1765 Smollett Trav. (1766) II. 198 [The French King] has the revenue of the farms. 1825 T. Jefferson Autobiog. Wks. 1859 I. 86 The oppressions of the tithes, the tailles, the corvees, the gabelles, the farms and the barriers. 1885 Edwards in Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9) XIX. 580 The first farm of postal income was made in 1672.

c. The body of farmers of public revenues.

1786 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) I. 547 A late contract by the Farm has [etc.]. Ibid. 568 They despair of a suppression of the Farm.

3. a. In certain phrases, senses 1 and 2 pass into the sense: The condition of being let at a fixed rent; now only with reference to revenue, the condition of being ‘farmed out’. † at, in farm; to have, hold, let, put, set, take, etc., † in, out or † forth to, to farm. Cf. med.L. ad firmam, accipere, recipere, committere, locare.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7773 He sette is tounes & is londes to ferme wel vaste. Ibid. 8566 Hor londes & hor rentes þe king huld in is honde & oþer wile to ferme tok. 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 2409 Ȝyf þou haue a þyng yn ferme. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvi. 16 Liberum arbitrium hath þe londe to ferme. 1432–50 tr. Higden (Rolls) VII. 433 Venerable Anselme..deposed mony abbottes and putte þeire places to ferme. 1439 E.E. Wills (1882) 115 The wich I hold to ferme of the mayster and couent. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 157 Fermyn or take a þynge to ferme, firmo, vel ad firmam accipio. c 1461 Paston Lett. No. 432 II. 79, I must selle or lete to ferme all that I have. 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 9 So dothe y profyte ryse to the lordes, wheder they go by way of improuement or set to ferme. 1524 Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading 20 In rents at ferme. 1557 Hakluyt Voy. (1599) I. 314 A Cursemay, which the Emperour sometime letteth out to farme. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 126 Quene Hithe taken of the king in farme. 1602 W. Fulbecke Pandectes 73 The Publicanes had Salt in farme. a 1618 Raleigh Rem. (1644) 83 Letting the Realm to farm to mean persons. 1660 Marvell Corr. xiii. Wks. 1872–5 II. 41 The Excise we hear is to be lett to farme. 1709 J. Johnson Clergym. Vade M. ii. (1731) 141 That no bishop, clergyman, or monk, do take to farm any estate or office. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1869) II. 501 Taxes upon consumable commodities..may be let in farm for a rent certain. 1785 Burke Sp. Nabob Arcot's Debts Wks. IV. 273 Districts which were in a condition to be let to farm. 1844 H. H. Wilson Brit. India I. 383 The lease of a district in farm. 1845 M{supc}Culloch Taxation Introd. (1852) 30 Government may let them in farm for a rent certain.

fig. 1554 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (1845) 274 Your learning is let out to farm.

b. in the operative words of a lease.

1765 Act 5 Geo. III, c. 26 Preamb., His late Majesty..did..demise, lease, and to farm-lett..all those houses. 1818 Cruise Digest (ed. 2) IV. 68 The words demise, lease, and to farm let, are the proper ones to constitute a lease.

† 4. A lease. Obs.

a 1500 Fragmenta Collecta c. 24 in Sc. Stat. I. 369 It is well lefful till him till giff or to sell his ferm to quham soeuer he likis. 1596 Spenser State Irel. (1633) 58 It is a great willfullnes in any such Land-lord to refuse to make any longer farmes unto their Tenants. 1647 N. Bacon Disc. Govt. Eng. i. xxxi. (1739) 47 Hence the Leases so made were called Feormes or Farmes.

5. a. Originally, a tract of land held on lease for the purpose of cultivation; in mod. use often applied without respect to the nature of the tenure. Sometimes qualified by n. prefixed, as dairy-farm, grass-farm, poultry-farm.

1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §123 Though a man..shall haue hys farme .xx. yeres. 1553 N. Grimalde tr. Cicero's Duties 135 b, If they who offer to sell a good farme [L. villa], etc. 1579 Rastell Expos. Terms Law 91 Farme or ferme is the chiefe mesuage in a village or towne..vsed to be let for terme of lyfe, yeares, or at will. 1611 Bible Matt. xxii. 5 But they..went their wayes, one to his farme, another to his merchandize. 1667 Milton P.L. ix. 448 The pleasant Villages and Farmes. 1737 Pope Hor. Epist. ii. ii. 259 There mingled farms and pyramids appear. 1817 W. Selwyn Law Nisi Prius (ed. 4) II. 676 Proceeding by ejectment to turn him out of the farm. 1874 Green Short Hist. ix. 693 The farms of Lothian have become models of agricultural skill.

b. Extended to tracts of water devoted to the breeding or rearing of some animals, gen. with qualification, as fish-farm, oyster-farm, terrapin-farm, etc. (see first terms).

1866 Chambers's Jrnl. 22 Sept. 601/1, I saw no farm of mussels. 1962 Daily Tel. 4 Apr. 12/3 The cultivation of an underwater ‘farm’ on a one-by-three mile area of sea.

c. Extended to storage installations.

1955 N.Y. Times 20 Feb. 20/4 Each farm..consists of several storage tanks with a pump house. 1958 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 10 Oct. 20/4 Tankers have piped ashore 29½ million gallons of gasoline and oil products into the tanks of three storage farms.

6. A farm-house.

1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. iv. 35 As when two greedy Wolves doe breake by force Into an heard, farre from the husband farme. 1598 Hakluyt Voy. I. 577 Farmes or granges which conteine chambers in them. 1600 Holland Livy vii. xiii. 1401 note, Neere unto this causey Cæsar had a ferme or mannor house. Mod. Mr. Smith lives at the White Farm at the end of the village.

7. A place where children are ‘farmed’.

1869 Greenwood Curses Lond. iii. 45 There can be no question that he has a better chance..than..at the ‘farm.’

8. slang. The prison infirmary. to fetch the farm = to be ordered infirmary diet and treatment. Cf. farmery, fermery.

1879 ‘Ticket-of-leave Man’ Convict Life vii. 167 After his conviction..he can ‘fetch the farm’, which is thieves' language for obtaining admission to the infirmary. a 1889 Evening News (Barrère & Leland), The dodges which would take place to ‘fetch the farm’. 1900 Pall Mall Gaz. Oct. 202 The ‘farm’..in ordinary prison vernacular, the synonym for the hospital. Ibid. 203 To ‘fetch the farm’ was, and still is, the current slang equivalent for getting round the doctor.

9. attrib. and Comb. a. Simple attributive (sense 5), as farm-account, farm-bailiff, farm-boy, farm-building, farm-cart, † farm-carle, farm-gate, farm-holding, farm implement, farm-kitchen, farm-labour, farm-labourer, farm-life, farm-produce, farm-rent, farm-servant, farm-stock, farm-woman, farm-work, etc.

1551 Richmond. Wills (Surtees) 72 My..wyfe..shall have full enterest in all suche fermeholding as I have in ferme and occupation at this daye. 1655 Sir E. Nicholas in N. Papers (Camden) II. 349 The most revenue being farme rents. 1813 J. Sinclair Syst. Husbandry Scotl. (ed. 2) II. App. 173 Gentlemen farmers, who..are not aware, of the real state of their farm accounts. 1816 Farmer's Mag. XVII. 477 Other labourers..dependent upon farm-work..are without employment. 1818 Cobbett Pol. Reg. XXXIII. 170 The low price of farm produce. 1825 Loudon Encycl. Agric. §7064 Farm-servants [in Angus] live chiefly on oatmeal. 1825 Loudon Encycl. Agric. 737 In the adjustment of farm labor, the great art is to divide it as equally as possible throughout the year. 1831 W. Howitt Bk. Seasons 105 In farm-kitchens..hear a chirping of chickens. 1834 D. Low Elem. Pract. Agric. 630 Farm gates have sometimes been made wholly of hammered iron. ? 1842 E. J. Lance Cottage Farmer 26 The decided advantages of employing oxen in general farm work. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 18, I have confidence of giving such an exposé of farm implements as will surpass every other work of the kind. Ibid. III. 1349 The next, and one of the most important books, is the Farm-account book. 1845 Hirst Poems 77 The farm boy with his shining spade. 1859 W. Collins Q. of Hearts (1875) 44 The Farm-lands stretched down gently into a beautiful rich valley. 1860 G. E. Street in Archaeol. Cantiana III. 99 note, The farm-buildings near the church. 1863 D. G. Mitchell My Farm Edgewood 17 The economies of a quiet farm-life. 1864 J. C. Atkinson Stanton Grange xxvi. 286 So much the better, if he could..get the inmates to put him into one of their farm-carts on some straw. 1875 W. M{supc}Ilwraith Guide Wigtownshire 132 Some of the villagers are..farm labourers. 1890 Daily News 31 Jan. 5/5 The need for some farm-labour training on the part of the emigrants. 1891 Atkinson Last of Giant Killers 86 The farm-carle had been gone a long time. 1891 Hardy Tess II. xxi. 12 A farm-woman would be the only sensible kind of wife for him. 1905 Westm. Gaz. 6 May 10/2 We see the children playing in the farm-kitchen. 1915 D. H. Lawrence Rainbow i. 2 The heated, blind intercourse of farm-life. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 58/1 The total January farm-gate deliveries of 148½m gallons.

b. Special comb.: farm-court = farm-yard; farm-crossing, a railway-crossing from one part of a farm to another; † farm-dish, a fixed quantity of ore payable as rent for copper mines; cf. toll-dish; farm-furrowed a., nonce-wd., cut up into farms; farm-hand, any person that works on a farm; farm-instructor, a teacher of agriculture; farm-meal, Sc., meal given in payment of rent; farm-office, usually pl., the out-buildings on a farm; † farm-place = farm n. 6; farm-room, ? a rented room or a leasehold; farm-stock, the cattle, etc., implements, and produce of a farm; farm-stocking, the cattle on a farm; farm-store = farm-produce. Also farm-hold, farm-house, farm-stead, farm-steading, farm-yard.

1860 C. M. Yonge Stokesley Secret xiv. (1881) 329 He could look down into the *farm-court.

1858 Redfield Law of Railways (1869) I. 488 Cattle-guards at *farm-crossings.

1713 Lond. Gaz. No. 5141/4 To treat about further Setts of the same [Copper-Works] for Years at a Toll or *Farm-Dish.

1857 Emerson Poems, Monadnoc 332 This..*Farm-furrowed, town-incrusted sphere.

1843 Cultivator X. 85 In unpropitious weather for out door employment your *farm hands can go to threshing out grain. 1878 W. Whitman Specimen Days (1883) 108 He was about the best specimen of a young country farm-hand I ever knew.

1884 S. E. Dawson Handbk. Canada 9 *Farm-instructors are appointed to teach the Indian adults..to till their lands.

1811 G. S. Keith Agric. Aberdeenshire vii. §4. 244 Before 1782, the *farm meal was commonly paid of this inferior oats.

1807 Sir R. C. Hoare Tour in Ireland 55 They have convenient *farm-offices for their cattle. 1825 Loudon Encycl. Agric. §7039 The farm-offices..consisting of a barn, cow and ox sheds and hog-sties.

1526 Tindale Matt. xxii. 5 They..went their wayes: won to his *ferme place. 1650 S. Clarke Eccl. Hist. (1654) I. 6 He was persuaded to betake himself to a certain Farm place.

1633 Rutherford Lett. xxvi. (1848) 54 An inheritance in this world (God forgive me, that I should honour it with the name of an inheritance, it is rather a *farm-room).

1860 A. Morris in Borthwick Amer. Reader 78 Exclusive of *farm-stock.

1828–40 Tytler Hist. Scot. (1864) I. 230 The chamberlain should..levy an annual tax upon the crops and *farm-stocking.

1848 Clough Bothie ix. 93 Market-carts..bringing in..Flower, fruit, *farm-store.

▪ III. farm, v.¹ Obs. exc. dial.
    Forms: 1 feormian, 2 fermien, 5–7 ferm(e, (4 feerm), 7– farm.
    [OE. feormian, of unknown etymology; cf. OHG. â-fermi ‘squalor’ (Ahd. Glossen I. 177).]
    trans. To cleanse, empty, purge.

c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Luke iii. 17 He feormað his bernes flore. 1382 Wyclif 1 Kings x. 2 Thow shalt fynde two men byside the sepulcre of Rachel..feermynge greet dichis. 1401 Pol. Poems (Rolls) II. 44 Haue we not to..ferme the dikes. 1440 J. Shirley Dethe K. James (1818) 16 To clense and ferme the said privay. 1530 Palsgr. 548/1, I ferme a siege or privy, Jescure. 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 30 The fellow sat a long houre farming his mouth. 1881 Oxford Gloss. Supp. s.v., ‘Farm out th' 'en-us ŏŏl ee?’

▪ IV. farm, v.²
    (fɑːm)
    Forms: 5–7 ferme, 6–7 farme, 7– farm.
    [f. farm n.²]
    1. trans. To take or hold for a term at a fixed payment. † a. To rent (land, etc.). Obs.

c 1440 Promp. Parv. 157 Fermyn, or take a þynge to ferme. 1530 Palsgr. 548 1, I haue fermed his house and al the lande he hath in this towne, jay prins a ferme [etc.]. 1602 Shakes. Ham. iv. iv. 20 (Qo.) To gain a little patch of ground..To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it. 1695 Bp. Patrick Comm. Gen. 259 Abram..farmed..some ground of them. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1721) Add. 10 The Valley is farm'd of the Grand Signior at 1200 Dollars per Annum.

fig. absol. 1641 Milton Prel. Episc. (1851) 88 To betake them..to..that..overgrowne Covert of antiquity thinking to farme there at large roome.

b. To take the fees, proceeds, or profits of (an office, tax, etc.) on payment of a fixed sum.

1569 J. Parkhurst Injunctions, None of you shall ferme one cure..within this Dioces. 1606 Holland Sueton. Annot. 12 These Publicanes, so called for that they fermed their Cities revenewes. 1639 Fuller Holy War v. xxvii. (1647) 276 The Guardian farmeth the Sepulchre of the Turk at a yearly rent. 1667 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 427 The two women that farm the well. 1738 Johnson London 58 Let such..Collect a tax, or farm a lottery. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 41 The Tidemann farmed..the tin-mines belonging to the Duchy of Cornwall.

transf. 1888 Daily News 19 Sept. 3/1 Colonel Mapleson..as he could get no one to farm him..had..to farm others, and he became an impresario.

2. To let another during a specified term on condition of receiving a specified payment. Also, to farm out. a. To lease or let (land) to a tenant. Now rare.

1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iv. 45 We are inforc'd to farme our royall Realme. 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq. Pref. 3 The Lands were farm'd out for near the full Rent in money. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. iii. 264 To raise money for the King, by farming out his lands. 1847 James Convict vi, Is not the land you cultivate your own, as much or more than his that he farms to others?

b. To lease or let the proceeds or profits of (customs, taxes, tithes, an undertaking) for a fixed payment.

1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. i. (Arb.) 35 My promise for farming my tithes at such a rate. 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. 362 The customs..yielded anno 1657, under 12000l. but was farmed anno 1658, for above thrice that sum. a 1704 T. Brown Two Oxford Scholars Wks. 1730 I. 9 If I be minded to farm out my Tythes. 1817 Coleridge Biog. Lit. 274 The concern should be farmed to some responsible individual. 1845 M{supc}Culloch Taxation Introd. (1852) 31 Any attempt to farm taxes on income..would excite the most violent clamour. 1879 Farrar St. Paul (1883) 249 Augustus had farmed the copper-mines to Herod the Great.

c. To let the labour of († cattle, persons) for hire.

1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 55 Other buy Kie to farme them out to other. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) I. iii. 182 They farmed out the Indians. 1783 Burke Sp. Fox's E. India Bill Wks. IV. 83 They have..continued to farm their subjects..to that very nabob.

transf. 1790 Boswell in Mad. D'Arblay's Diary Oct., I would farm you out myself for double, treble the money!

3. a. To contract for the maintenance and care of (persons, an institution, etc.) at a stipulated price. Also to farm out.

1666 Pepys Diary (1879) IV. 100 A proposal made heretofore to farm the Navy. 1773 Observ. State Poor 39 The patrons of the practice of farming workhouses. 1791 Bentham Panopt. ii. 82 Oh, but this contract-plan—it's like farming the poor. 1838 Dickens O. Twist (1850) 3/1 The parish authorities..resolved, that Oliver should be ‘farmed’. 1862 W. W. Story Roba di R. iii. (1864) 34 The support of these..criminal slaves is farmed out..to some responsible person at the lowest rate that is offered.

b. With out. To send (a university student) to a tutor outside his own college.

1959 Camb. Rev. 7 Mar. 399/1 Politics is often taught by history tutors or by research students; there is a great deal of ‘farming out’ which naturally undermines the purpose of the tutorial system. 1961 New Statesman 28 Apr. 669/3 One term ‘farmed out’ with a man tutor taught me more both of my subject and of its relation to other subjects and to life than I learned from several terms with women tutors.

4. To cultivate, till.

1806 Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2) 88 Many of the proprietors farm their own estates. 1841 Elphinstone Hist. Ind. II. 179 He farmed a small spot of land belonging to a Bramin astrologer. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 557 The different degrees of skill and economy with which they are farmed.

5. intr. To follow the occupation of a farmer; to till the soil.

1719 De Foe Crusoe (1840) II. i. 6, I farmed upon my own land. 1807 Crabbe Village i. 40 Fields and flocks have charms For him that gazes, or for him that farms.

6. trans. and intr. In Cricket, of a batsman: to contrive to receive the majority of the balls bowled.

1955 I. Peebles Ashes xii. 125 Maddocks was run out..when trying to farm the strike. 1963 Times 23 May 4/3 Richardson..went belligerently on..‘farming’ skilfully.

Hence farmed ppl. a.

1888 Daily News 11 Dec. 4/6 A drop of 14 per cent. had occurred in labourers' wages over the farmed surface of England. 1889 Ibid. 25 Nov. 5/3 The survivor of the farmed children.