Yeoman

(yō'man.) (From A. S. ge oman.] In English polity, a commoner, or a plebeian of the first or most respectable cla . The term is now usually applied to a man who cultivates his own land for his support. In ancient times it denoted one of those who held folk-land; that is, had nofief, or book-land, and therefore did not rank among the gentry. What the yeoman po e ed, however, he po e ed independently; he was, therefore, no man's va al. [s. 975]