Dictionary of Phrase and Fable—Y

Yeoman

(A) was anciently a forty-shilling freeholder, and as such qualified to vote, and serve on juries. In more modern times it meant a farmer who cultivated his own freehold. Later still, an upper farmer, tenant or otherwise, is often called a yeoman.

“His family were yeomen of the richer class, who for some generations had held property.” -

R. C. Jebb: Richard Bentley, chap. i. p. 2.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
Yeoman's Service
Yemen
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