a person who owns or works on a farm, growing crops or raising animals for food or other products
The farmer drove her tractor across the golden wheat field at dawn.
At the weekend market, a friendly farmer handed me a basket of freshly picked strawberries.
✦ From Middle English fermer, from Anglo-French fermour, from Medieval Latin firmarius, meaning ‘tenant or cultivator of leased land’. Over time, the sense shifted to anyone who cultivates land, whether leased or owned.
