farm

plural farms · alternative feorm

1. countableA place where agricultural and similar activities take place, especially the growing of crops or the raising of livestock.
2. countableA tract of land held on lease for the purpose of cultivation.
3. countablein compoundsoftenA location used for an industrial purpose, having many similar structures.

   antenna farm; fuel farm; solar farm; wind farm

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   The skies are threatening to pour on the Apple solar farm but as the woman in-charge of the company’s environmental initiatives points out: the panels are still putting out some power. Apple is still greening its act.

   2014 July 25, Suzanne Goldenberg, “Apple eyes solar to power the cloud and iPhone 6 sapphire manufacturing”, in The Guardian

4. countablecomputingA group of coordinated servers.

   a render farm

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   a server farm

5. obsoleteFood; provisions; a meal.
6. obsoleteA banquet; feast.
7. obsoleteA fixed yearly amount (food, provisions, money, etc.) payable as rent or tax.

   All..Tythings shall stand at the old Farm, without any Increase.

   1700, J. Tyrrell, Gen. Hist. Eng. II. 814

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   If a man be bounden unto 1.s. in 100.l.£ to grant unto him the rent and farme of such a Mill.

   1642, J. Perkins, transl., Profitable Bk. (new ed.) xi. §751. 329

   The most usual and customary feorm or rent..must be reserved yearly on such lease.

   1767, W. Blackstone, Comm. Laws Eng. II. 320

8. historicalA 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.

   He [the Sheriff] paid into the Exchequer the fixed yearly sum which formed the farm of the shire.

   1876, E. A. Freeman, Hist. Norman Conquest V. xxiv. 439

9. historicalThe letting-out of public revenue to a ‘farmer’; the privilege of farming a tax or taxes.

   The first farm of postal income was made in 1672.

   1885, Edwards in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 580

10. The body of farmers of public revenues.

    They despair of a suppression of the Farm.

    1786, T. Jefferson, Writings (1859) I. 568

11. The condition of being let at a fixed rent; lease; a lease.

    The words demise, lease, and to farm let, are the proper ones to constitute a lease.

    1818, W. Cruise, Digest Laws Eng. Real Prop. (ed. 2) IV. 68

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    It is a great willfullnes in any such Land-lord to refuse to make any longer farmes unto their Tennants.

    1596 (date written; published 1633), Edmund Spenser, A Vewe of the Present State of Irelande […], Dublin: […] Societie of Stationers, […], →OCLC; republished as A View of the State of Ireland […] (Ancient Irish Histories), Dublin: […] Society of Stationers, […] Hibernia Press, […] [b]y John Morrison, 1809, →OCLC

    Thence the Leases so made were called Feormes or Farmes, which word signifieth Victuals.

    1647, N. Bacon, Hist. Disc. Govt. 75

12. historicalA baby farm.

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    Oliver’s sobs checked his utterance for some minutes; when he was on the point of beginning to relate how he had been brought up at the farm, and carried to the workhouse by Mr. Bumble, a peculiarly impatient little double-knock was heard at the street-door: and the servant, running upstairs, announced Mr. Grimwig.

    1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC

present singular third person farms · participle present farming · participle past farmed · past farmed

1. intransitiveTo work on a farm, especially in the growing and harvesting of crops.
2. transitiveTo devote (land) to farming.
3. transitiveTo grow (a particular crop).
4. 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; to farm out.

   to farm the taxes

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   [The East-India Company] have contrived to farm their subjects, and their duties toward these subjects, to that very Nabob, whom they themselves constantly represent as an habitual oppressor and a relentless tyrant.

   1783 December 1, “Speech on Mr. Fox's East-India Bill”, in The Works of R.H. Edmund Burke, volume 2, spoken by Edmund Burke, published 1855

5. obsoletetransitiveTo lease or let for an equivalent, e.g. land for a rent; to yield the use of to proceeds.

   We are enforced to farm our royal realm.

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]

6. obsoletetransitiveTo take at a certain rent or rate.

   In Paris it is stated that nearly half the birth-rate of the city finds its way to nurses who farm babies in the suburbs.

   1886, The Fortnightly, volume 46, page 530

7. InternetgamesTo engage in grinding (repetitive activity) in a particular area or against specific enemies for a particular drop or item.

   The practice of gold farming is controversial within gaming communities and violates the end user licensing agreements[…]

   2010, Robert Alan Brookey, Hollywood Gamers, page 130

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   When you hit a black pudding with an iron weapon that does at least one point of damage there is a good chance it will divide into two black puddings of the same size (but half the hit points IIRC). […] When eaten black puddings confer several intrinsics so AC [armor class] is not the only potential benefit. […] Since black puddings are formidible^([sic]) monsters for an inexperienced character, farming is also a good way to die.

   2004, Doug Freyburger, “Pudding Farming Requires Care”, in rec.games.roguelike.nethack (Usenet)

8. InternetTo cultivate and/or disseminate through artificial algorithm-incentivized means.

   X's suspension of the Stake-linked accounts and the UK Gambling Commission's enforcement action represent the first significant consequences for clip farming.

   2026 February 11, Boaz Sobrado, “Inside The 'Clipping Farms' Driving Fintech's Marketing Boom”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2026

   2 more examples

   This type of SEO farming can be massively lucrative. Digital marketers have built an entire industry on top of credit card affiliate links, from which they then earn a generous profit.

   2023 January 19, Mia Sato, Vincent James, “Inside CNET’s AI-powered SEO money machine”, in The Verge

   Will AI slop farming ultimately exhaust the soil of online spaces? Will people flee the slop, tolerate it, or even welcome it? Will we ultimately come to love slop?

   2025 September 28, Kate Crawford, “Eating the Future: The Metabolic Logic of AI Slop”, in e-flux

   1. InternetderogatoryTo act performatively or deliberately to elicit a desired response.

      Synonyms: bait

present singular third person farms · participle present farming · participle past farmed · past farmed

1. UKdialectalTo cleanse; clean out; put in order; empty; empty out

   Farm out the stable and pigsty.

1. UKslangBroadwater Farm, an area of Tottenham, North London, England.

   And before you mention the plans to fix up the Farm, let me tell you, all that regeneration talk is just about bulldozing the place and shipping us all out to God knows where.

   2020, Jac Shreeves-Lee, Broadwater