farm out

verb

farmed out; farming out; farms out

transitive verb

1

: to turn over for performance by another usually under contract

farm out a job

2

a

: to put (someone, such as a child) into the hands of another for care

b

: to send (an athlete, such as a baseball player) to a farm team

3

: to exhaust (land) by farming especially by continuously raising one crop

Examples of farm out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Washington state by far has the most apple orchards, representing 2,335 farms out of 27,463 apple-producing farms nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's 2022 Census of Agriculture. —Michael Salerno, The Arizona Republic, 25 Sep. 2024

Beyond ramping up production, a European security body will have to assume responsibility for its own research and development—a task that has largely been farmed out to the United States. —Phillips P. O’Brien, Foreign Affairs, 6 Sep. 2024

At some point, the hospital decided to farm out the service to Shady Grove Fertility, but the quality of service had been set. —Reader Commentary, Baltimore Sun, 5 Aug. 2024

This is a nearly 15% hit rate from only two dairy farms out of more than 170 with bird flu outbreaks in 13 states this year. —Amy Maxmen, CNN, 2 Aug. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

circa 1593, in the meaning defined at sense 1