tenant farmer

noun

1. a person who farms the land of another and pays rent with cash or with a portion of the produce.

tenant farmer

noun

1. a person who farms land rented from another, the rent usually taking the form of part of the crops grown or livestock reared

Word History and Origins

Origin of tenant farmer¹

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

Third-generation tenant farmer Ollie Stobo, 45, who farms cereal crops on 500 acres of land near Witney in Oxfordshire, has been hit by floodwaters for the seventh time in two years.

From BBC

As an aural counterpoint, Haynes adds a dash of heightened orchestral menace: a quotation from Michel Legrand‘s score for the 1971 film “The Go-Between,” starring Julie Christie as an aristocratic young woman who embarks on a forbidden romance with a tenant farmer.

From Los Angeles Times

Among the four individuals named as having learned blacksmithing as slaves, Ned Cobb was never enslaved, having been born in 1885, and was a tenant farmer; Henry Blair was an inventor born a free man in Maryland; Lewis Latimer was an inventor born free, to escaped slaves, in Massachusetts; and John Henry was a figure of folklore who may never have existed at all.

From Los Angeles Times

The son of a tenant farmer, Walker and his family worried that an injury in his senior year could jeopardize his professional career and the millions of dollars awaiting him there.

From Slate

Mr. Lewis, a Louisiana tenant farmer’s son and the cousin of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, performed with a riveting, maniacal quality.

From Washington Post