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farm boy

farm boy

18 1.7
A boy who grew up living and working on a farm
  • noun
  • /fɑrm bɔɪ/
translation icon : muchacho de granja
  • Growing up as a farm boy, he learned how to handle animals and crops from a young age.

And who did they find but a young, impressionable farm boy from Illinois named Clyde Tombaugh.

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Examples

  • And he feels that because he's a farm boy from Illinois and he grew up on a small farm.

  • A farm boy in an Irish-American family, committed to calloused hands and rigorous rules.

  • - Keep it down, farm boy.

  • "Let it roll off you, farm boy," Easy said.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Land is owned by no one and everyone; therefore, as the farm boy said, Pa says I can play there.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Officer, I'm just an old farm boy.

  • But nothing else about Morgan reflected his early years as a farm boy.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • A big Nebraska farm boy, he had a friendly, easy disposition.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • In my town in upstate New York, a soft spoken farm boy named Archie Sweeney has just been drafted.

  • I was the typical farm boy, complete with ankle-high brogans, drawl, and a double-breasted suit in a single-breasted era.

    Fiction book (1991)

Synonyms

farmboy
vsfarm boy
2 2.6

A boy or young man who lives and works on a farm

is about growing up on a farm and rural upbringing
plowboy
vsfarm boy
  • Archaic
8.6

A boy who guides animals pulling a plow on a farm

is about growing up or living rurally rather than plow work

How Rural

countryman
1 3.8
farm boy
18 1.7
suburban
234 3.5
townsman
1 4.8
city boy
15 4.5

Surface Forms

farm boy singular
farm boys plural

Morphology

farm + boy

The meaning 'a boy who lives or grew up on a farm' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'farm' (a tract of land used for agriculture) with 'boy' (a male child). This simple noun–noun composition is a common, literal pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Farm boy is the image of a farm and a boy who grows up there and does chores like feeding animals and working the fields. Because of that simple picture, calling someone a farm boy usually means they have a 'rural upbringing' and are used to 'hard work'.