farmer (farmer)

[ The farmers of the tax [hearth-money] were rigorous and unrelenting in their proceedings. S. Dowell , Taxes in England, II. 43. The equites also farmed the public revenues. Those who were engaged in this busine were called public an i; and, though Cicero, who was himself of the equestrian order, speaks of these farmers as "the flower of the Roman equites, the ornament of the state, the safeguard of the republic," it appears that they were a set of detestable oppre ors. Anthon's Cla ical Dict. 2. In mining , the lord of the field, or one who farms the lot and cope of the crown. [Eng.] - 3. One who cultivates a farm, either as owner or le ee; in general, one who tills the soil. Here's a farmer , that hanged himself on the expect a- tion of plenty. Shak., Macbeth, ii. 3. O why are farmers made so coarse, Or clergy made so fine? Cowper, The Yearly Distre . You did but come as goblins in the night,. Nor robb'd the farmer of his bowl of cream. Tennyson, Prince , v. We are thus led to believe that the English farmers were at first joint-owners of all the arable land as well as of the pastures and waste-grounds in the township. C. Elton , Origins of Eng. Hist., p. 406. 4. The eldest son of the holder or occupier of a farm; anciently, a yeoman or country gentleman. [Prov. Eng.] - Farmer's satin. See satin . farmere (fär'mer-es), n. [ farmer + -e .] A woman who farms; a farmer's wife. [Rare.] Went to Margate; and the following day was carried to see a gallant widow, brought up a farm or e e, and I think of gigantic race, rich, comely, and exceedingly industrious. Evelyn, Memoirs, May 19, 1672. farmer-general (fär' mer-jen'e-ral), n. In France, under the old monarchy, a member of a privileged cla which farmed certain branches of the revenue that is, contracted with the government to pay into the treasury a fixed yearly sum, taking upon itself the collection and use of certain taxes as an equivalent. This system was intolerably oppre ive, especially in the eigh teenth century, when its members were united in an a ociation. It was swept away at the revolution, and about thirty farmers-general were executed in 1794.