cottier
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈkɒtɪə/
- Archaic
- The lifestyle of a cottier often involved tending to crops and livestock to sustain their family.
Examples
-
During the medieval period, a cottier relied on their cottage and land for both shelter and food.
-
Many days he stood at his fence, watching the movements of the drawn carts and of his parishioners, the cottiers coming from the clodded potato fields.
Fiction book (1994) -
For instance, in 1823, Peter Robinson found that before he could interest the destitute cottiers of the north.
Academic text (1990) -
The result in the Irish countryside was what one scholar calls a "culture of despair": a growing conviction that the Ireland of the small tenant farmers and cottier-weavers was doomed.
Academic text (1990) -
Similarly, for a cottier-weaver such as Ulster emigrant John McBride, "independence" meant sufficient land so he would not have "to stand like a beggar before a manufacturer's door." 60
Academic text (1990) -
In the past, many cottiers worked hard to cultivate their small plots of land in rural Ireland.
Synonyms
147
3.5
A person who works on land for a living, usually on a small farm
4
3.7
A farmer who rents land from a landowner instead of owning it
1
9.9
A poor farmer in Scotland who lives in a small cottage with a small plot of land
1
9.9
A poor farm worker who lives in a small cottage and works the land
How Poor
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word cottier comes from the old root cot, seen in cottage and cot, which means 'small house', so a cottier was someone who lived in a small house and farmed a little plot of land and often owed work or rent to a local lord.