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cockatoo farmer. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
cockatoo farmer, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
cockatoo farmer in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
cockatoo farmer you have here. The definition of the word
cockatoo farmer will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition of
cockatoo farmer, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
English
Etymology
Probably refers to the practice of working a small patch of land for a short period before moving on, in the manner of a feeding cockatoo.[1] Alternatively so called to compare the farmers with the common sulphur-crested cockatoo, which come down on the newly sown cornfields in myriads.[2]
Noun
cockatoo farmer (plural cockatoo farmers)
- (Australia, derogatory, obsolete) A small-scale farmer.
1875, Anthony Trollope, edited by Bradford Allen Booth, The Tireless Traveler: Twenty Letters to the Liverpool Mercury, page 177:The cockatoo farmer of South Australia lives a plentiful but not a picturesque life, and unless he gets hopelessly into debt is his own master.
1888, William Gordon Stables, From Squire to Squatter, page 182:“ Does it pay to breed cockatoos ?” said Archie innocently.
“Don′t be the death o′ me, Johnnie. A cockatoo farmer is just a crofter. […] ”
1911, The Academy, volume 81, page 415:This is the dwelling of a cockatoo-farmer, the humble agriculturist who makes the most of his thirty or forty acres of land, […]
Usage notes
The term (sometimes abbreviated as "cockie") was used by squatters in disparagement of the small scale of the operations.
References