Spenser.
3. The land held under lease and by payment of rent for the purpose of cultivation.
4. Any tract of land devoted to agricultural purposes, under the management of a tenant or the owner.
In English the ideas of a lease, a term, and a rent, continue to be in a great degree inseparable, even from the popular meaning of a farm, as they are entirely so from the legal sense. Burrill.
5. A district of country leased (or farmed) out for the collection of the revenues of government.
The province was devided into twelve farms.
Burke.
6. (O. Eng. Law) A lease of the imposts on particular goods; as, the sugar farm, the silk farm.
Whereas G. H. held the farm of sugars upon a rent of 10,000 marks per annum.
State Trials (1196).
Farm (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Farmed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Farming.] 1. To lease or let for an equivalent, as land for a rent; to yield the use of to proceeds.
We are enforced to farm our royal realm.
Shak.
2. 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; as, to farm the taxes.
To farm their subjects and their duties toward these.
Burke.
3. To take at a certain rent or rate.
4. To devote (land) to agriculture; to cultivate, as land; to till, as a farm.
To farm let, To let to farm, to lease on rent.
Farm, v. i. To engage in the business of tilling the soil; to labor as a farmer.
Farm"a*ble (?), a. Capable of being farmed.
Farm"er (?), n. [Cf. F. fermier.] One who farms; as: (a) One who hires and cultivates a farm; a cultivator of leased ground; a tenant. Smart. (b) One who is devoted to the tillage of the soil; one who cultivates a farm; an agriculturist; a husbandman. (c) One who takes taxes, customs, excise, or other duties, to collect, either paying a fixed annuual rent for the privilege; as, a farmer of the revenues. (d) (Mining) The lord of the field, or one who farms the lot and cope of the crown.
Farmer-general [F. fermier-general], one to whom the right of levying certain taxes, in a particular district, was farmed out, under the former French monarchy, for a given sum paid down. -- Farmers' satin, a light material of cotton and worsted, used for coat linings. McElrath. -- The king's farmer (O. Eng. Law), one to whom the collection of a royal revenue was farmed out. Burrill.
Farm"er*ess, n. A woman who farms.
Farm"er*ship, n. Skill in farming.
Farm"er*y (?), n. The buildings and yards necessary for the business of a farm; a homestead. [Eng.]
Farm"house`, n. A dwelling house on a farm; a farmer's residence.
Farm"ing, a. Pertaining to agriculture; devoted to, adapted to, or engaged in, farming; as, farming tools; farming land; a farming community.
The Gutenberg Webster's Unabridged Dictionary: Section F, G and H · The Wunder Library — complete classics, free to read, with narration.