yeoman
3
9.9
- noun
- /ˈjoʊmən/
- Archaic
:
campesino
- In historical England, a yeoman was a man who owned and farmed his own land, typically lower in status than the gentry.
- yeoman farmer
Except in England, where we didn't really have feudalism and serfdom, what we had was, well, English Yeoman.
- Except in England, where we didn't really have feudalism and serfdom, what we had was, well, English Yeoman.
Examples
-
The yeoman ate bread and cheese, cabbage and bacon, but he longed for beef.
Academic text (2011) -
Jeffersonians aimed to promote other virtues, particularly simplicity and the serene independence of the self-sufficient yeoman.
Academic text (1996) -
You ready to roll, young yeoman?
-
With your permission, I'll have my yeoman set up another meeting with you for that purpose.
Fiction book (1997) -
Jefferson, with his yeoman farmer freeholder ideal, probably came the closest to that.
Blog text (24) -
Donald Dayton has done most of the yeoman's work.
Blog text (31) -
At yonder heaving hill would stare: The blood that warms an English yeoman,
Fiction book (2000) -
Finally, those writing about the plight of the small farmer often contrasted the legitimacy of the farmer's hard work with the entrepreneur's idleness, invoking the theme of the yeoman farmer as the symbol of American virtue and identity.
Academic text (2002) -
From the beginning of the modern reservation system in 1867, local Indian agents were charged with converting the local Native populations into yeoman farmers, teaching them how to plant and tend crops of corn and other vegetables, mostly for subsistence purposes, as well as how to cultivate commercial crops such as wheat and cotton.
Academic text (2018) -
The yeoman tended his fields diligently, ensuring that his crops were healthy and plentiful.
Synonyms
42
2.5
A person who has land, often a large area in the countryside
1
9.4
A person who works a very small farm often in Scotland or northern England
Compounds
1
9.9
A guard who stands near the king or queen during ceremonies while wearing a Tudor uniform
Surface Forms
Etymology
Yeoman comes from old words for young and man, originally meaning 'a young man' or 'a servant', and over time it came to mean a steady, independent man who owned and worked his own land.