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cottier

cottier

9.9
A rural worker who lived in a cottage and farmed a small plot of land in the Middle Ages
  • noun
  • /ˈkɒtɪə/
  • Archaic
translation icon : arrendatario
  • 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

peasant
vscottier
157 3.5

A person who works on land for a living, usually on a small farm

is more specific to people living in tiny cottages with small plots
tenant farmer
vscottier
3 3.7

A farmer who rents land from a landowner instead of owning it

lives and works in a small cottage plot, not just renting larger farms
cotter
vscottier
  • Archaic
9.9

A poor farm worker who lives in a small cottage and works the land

is similar but specific to medieval England and Ireland
cottar
vscottier
  • Archaic
9.9

A poor farmer in Scotland who lives in a small cottage with a small plot of land

refers to cottageholders across medieval England and Ireland rather than only Highlands

How Poor

serf
19 9.4
cottier
  • Archaic
9.9
landowner
42 2.5

Surface Forms

cottier singular
cottiers plural

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.