Farm sb.²

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 sb.)]

  † 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. And doþ to wetynge, þat euerych gret hows in wham me workeþ þe qwyltes, shal to þe ferme v.s. by þe ñere, þey he ne worche but o-lupy cloþ.

c. 1440.  Promp. Parv., 156. Feerme, a rent, firma.

c. 1450.  Bk. Curtasye, 596, in Babees Bk. (1868), 319.

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.  trans. Perkins’ Prof. Bk., xi. § 751. 329. If a man be bounden unto 1 S. in 100 l. to grant unto him the rent and farm of such a Mill, &c.

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 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, Discourse of the Laws & Government of England, I. lxvii. (1682), 172. The King, that raised the values of the Farm of Counties granted to the Sheriffs; for in those days Sheriffs gave no accounts.

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. The Mayor shall choose, of his own free will, a reputable man, free of the City, to be one of the Sheriffs for the ensuing year; for whom he is willing to answer as to one half of the ferm of the City due to the King, if he who is so elected by the Mayor shall prove not sufficient.

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. 580/1, ‘Post-Office.’ The first farm of postal income was made in 1672, and by farmers it was administered until June 1790.

  c.  The body of farmers of public revenues.

1786.  T. Jefferson, Writ. (1859), I. 547. A late contract by the Farm has, in a great measure, fixed in a single mercantile house, the supplies of tobacco wanted for this country. Ibid., 568. They despair of a suppression of the Farm.

  3.  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 lok.

1303.  R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 2409.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVI. 16. Liberum arbitrium hath þe londe to ferme.

1432–50.  trans. 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 of seynt Bartholomews.

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^e 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.  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’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, Discourse of the Laws & Government of England, I. xxxi. (1682), 47. Thence the Leases so made were called Feormes or Farmes, which word signifieth Victuals.

  5.  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 sb. prefixed, as dairy-, grass-, poultry-farm.

1523.  Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 123. Thoughe a man be but a farmer, and shall haue hys farme .xx. yeres, it is lesse coste for hym, and more profyte, to quyckeset, dyche, and hedge, than to haue his cattell goo before the herdeman.

1553.  N. Grimald, trans. 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 measuage in a village, or towne, and thereto belonginge great demeasnes of al sortes, & hath bene vsed to be let for terme of life, yeres, or at wil.

1611.  Bible, Matt. xxii. 5. But they made light of it, and 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. 258.

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.

  6.  A farm-house.

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., IV. iv. 35.

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.

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

1551.  Richmond. Wills (Surtees), 72. My tractable wyfe Maybell, after my deceasse, shall have full enterest in all suche fermeholding as I have in ferme and occupation at this daye in Jolbie.

1655.  J Jane, in The Nicholas Papers (Camden), II. 349. The most revenue being farme rents.

1818.  Cobbett, Pol. Reg., XXXIII. 171–2. In 1815, the advocates for the Corn Bill all proceeded upon the principle, taken by them for granted, that the low price of farm produce was the cause of the want of employment and of the national distress.

1825.  Loudon, Encycl. Agric., § 7064. Farm-servants [in Angus] live chiefly on oatmeal.

1842[?].  Lance, Cottage Farmer, 26. The decided advantages of employing oxen in general farm work.

1845.  H. B. Hirst, Poems, The Fringilla Melodia, 77.

1859.  W. Collins, Q. of Hearts (1875), 44. The Farm-lands stretched down gently into a beautiful rich valley, lying nicely sheltered by the high platform of the moor.

1860.  G. E. Street, in Archæol. Cantiana, III. 99, note. The farm-buildings near the church.

1875.  W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to 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.  J. C. Atkinson, The Last of the Giant Killers, 86. The folk at the farm began to think the farm-carle had been gone a long time, and so they sent out the farm-lass to seek him.

  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 who 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 sb. 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 FARMHOLD, FARM-HOUSE, FARM-STEAD, FARM-STEADING, FARM-YARD.

1860.  Miss 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.

1884.  S. E. Dawson, Handbk. Canada, 9. There is, in the Department of the Interior, a special staff for watching over the interests of the Indians throughout the Dominion. Industrial schools are provided for their children and *farm instructors are appointed to teach the 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 made light of it, and went their wayes: won to his *ferme place.

1650.  S. Clarke, Eccl. Hist. (1654), I. 6. He was perswaded through the importunity of his friends, to betake himself to a certain Farm place, not far from the City.

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. The value of the agricultural products of New Brunswick, exclusive of *farm-stock, was estimated in 1854 at £2,000,000.

1828–40.  Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), I. 230. To pacify the dangerous murmurs of the Lowland districts, which produced wool, and paid on every sack a heavy tax to the crown, it was determined that in those upper counties where this tax was not collected sheep not having been introduced, but which abounded in agricultural produce, the chamberlain should either levy an annual tax upon the crops and *farm-stocking, for support of the king’s household, or that the king, at certain seasons, should remove his court to these Highland districts, and, during his residence there, assess them for his support.

1848.  Clough, Bothie, ix. 93.