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.
© Webster 1913.