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yeomanry

yeomanry

9.9
Small landowners in England who farm their own land
  • noun
  • /ˈjəʊmənri/
  • Archaic
translation icon : campesinado
  • The strength of the yeomanry lies in their commitment to maintaining their self-sufficient farms, bridging the gap between the gentry and laborers.

Examples

  • Historically, the yeomanry represented a class of independent landowners who played a crucial role in English agriculture.

  • Our centuries of farming yeomanry and coffee-house urbanity would dissolve in a hybrid neither one thing nor the other.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • He was a gentleman on the edge of the yeomanry with an Essex background similar to that of the Harlakendens before the acquisition of Earls Colne manor.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Many farmers in rural England are proud to identify as part of the yeomanry, as they own and cultivate their own small plots of land.

Synonyms

yeoman
vsyeomanry
  • Archaic
3 9.9

A man who owned and farmed his land below the local upper class

is the social class made up of such small landowners
squirearchy
vsyeomanry
  • Archaic
9.9

A group of country landowners who form the local ruling class

is a lower middle rural class between gentry and laborers

Surface Forms

yeomanry singular
yeomanries plural

Morphology

yeomanry = yeoman (transparent) = yeoman + ry

Standard collective/class noun formed from 'yeoman' indicating the body or class of yeomen, a directly derivable meaning for learners who know 'yeoman'.

Etymology

Yeomanry comes from yeoman, which originally meant a 'young' or 'reliable' man who worked his own small farm, and the ending -ry meaning 'the group or class of'. So yeomanry means the class of small landowners who worked their own land.