peasant

peasant
noun Etymology: Middle English paissaunt, from Anglo-French paisant, pesaunt, from pais, paiis country, from Late Latin pagensis inhabitant of a district, from Latin pagus district; akin to Latin pangere to fix — more at pact Date: 15th century 1. a member of a European class of persons tilling the soil as small landowners or as laborers; also a member of a similar class elsewhere 2. a usually uneducated person of low social status

New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Peasant — Peas ant, n. [OF. pa[ i]sant (the i being perh. due to confusion with the p. pr. of verbs), pa[ i]san, F. paysan, fr. OF. & F. pays country, fr. L. pagus the country. See {Pagan}.] A countryman; a rustic; especially, one of the lowest class of… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Peasant — Peas ant, a. Rustic, rural. Spenser. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • peasant — index ignoble Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • peasant — early 15c., from Anglo Fr. paisant (mid 14c.), O.Fr. paisent (12c.), earlier paisenc, from pais country, region + Frankish suffix enc ing. Pais is from L.L. pagensis inhabitant of the district, from L. pagus country or rural district (see PAGAN… …   Etymology dictionary

  • peasant — [n] farmer boor, bumpkin, countryman/woman, cropper, farmhand, hayseed*, hick*, hired hand, laborer, peon, planter, provincial, rube, rustic, serf, sharecropper, villein; concepts 347,348,423 …   New thesaurus

  • peasant — ► NOUN 1) a poor smallholder or agricultural labourer of low social status. 2) informal an ignorant, rude, or unsophisticated person. DERIVATIVES peasantry noun. ORIGIN Old French paisent, from pais country …   English terms dictionary

  • peasant — [pez′ənt] n. [LME paissaunt < Anglo Fr paisant < MFr païsent < OFr < païs, country < LL pagensis, belonging to the district < pagus, district: see PAGAN] 1. any person of the class of small farmers or of farm laborers, as in… …   English World dictionary

  • Peasant — A peasant is an agricultural worker who subsists by working a small plot of ground. The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays , or countryside. The term peasant today is sometimes used in a pejorative sense… …   Wikipedia

  • peasant — peasantlike, adj. /pez euhnt/, n. 1. a member of a class of persons, as in Europe, Asia, and Latin America, who are small farmers or farm laborers of low social rank. 2. a coarse, unsophisticated, boorish, uneducated person of little financial… …   Universalium

  • peasant */ — UK [ˈpez(ə)nt] / US [ˈpezənt] noun [countable] Word forms peasant : singular peasant plural peasants 1) someone who works on another person s farm or on their own small farm. This word is used mainly about people in poor countries or people in… …   English dictionary

  • peasant —    Used as a term of abuse to a person, usually a man, to imply that he is without education or manners. The term is certainly not obsolete, as the Oxford English Dictionary states, though it is less used now than in earlier times.    The… …   A dictionary of epithets and terms of address

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”