Husbandry Meaning

/ˈhʌzb(ə)ndɹi/
C1

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounThe occupation or work of a husbandman or farmer; the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock; agriculture.

nounThe prudent management or conservation of resources.

Agriculture, crafts, animal husbandry and fishery are the main traditional sources of income.
Modern agricultural methods have significantly improved animal husbandry in the region.
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
Crop rotation and careful ____ kept the family farm productive for years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Sustainable animal ____ focuses on the health and welfare of farm livestock.

From Middle English hus-bō̆ndrī, hus-bō̆ndrīe, husbanderi, husbonderie, housbondrye, housebondrie (“household management, housekeeping; household duties; economy, skilful management, thrift; farm management, agriculture, farming; cultivation; household articles; husbands collectively”), from hǒus-bō̆nd, hǒus-bō̆nde (“male spouse, husband; master of a house; male head of a household; man having charge of something, household manager; (figuratively) host, inhabitant, resident; bondsman, villein; farmer, husbandman”) (see further at husband) + -rīe (suffix forming nouns collectively denoting members or practitioners of a craft or profession). By surface analysis, husband + -ry.

"If the Church be God's Huſbandry, then, thoſe that be imployed in Miniſterial work, ought to be men of great judgment and experience in ſoul affairs; for theſe are the labourers whom God, the myſtical Huſbandman imploys and entruſts about his ſpiritual Huſbandry." — 1669, John Flavell [i.e., John Flavel], “The Proem”, in Husbandry Spiritualized or The Heavenly Use of Earthly Things. […], London: Printed and are to be sold by Robert Boulter, […], →OCLC, page 14:
"The number of perſons required to cultivate the land in farms, would not be the whole increaſe that incloſure would promote; for there would be many more required to make and repair all ſorts of utenſils for huſbandry and houſhold-furniture, and alſo artificers for building, and their clothing would likewise cauſe employment for many others." — 1760, Thomas Hitt, A Treatise of Husbandry on the Improvement of Dry and Barren Lands. […], London: Printed for the author, and sold by J. Richardson […], and J. Webb, […], →OCLC, page 43:
"On grain farms, it is considered good economy to keep one sheep for every acre of cleared land which the farm contains; on those where mixed husbandry is practiced, two; and on those exclusively devoted to sheep, three." — 1847 April, [Henry Stephens Randall], “Letter V. Profits of Sheep Husbandry in the Southern States.—I. Direct Profit on Capital Invested.”, in John S[tuart] Skinner, editor, Monthly Journal of Agriculture, […], volume II, number 10, New York, N.Y.: Greeley & McElrath, […], →OCLC, page 461:
"But often as a cultured tree knows nothing of the husbandries which beautified the stock from which it sprang, and thus caused its beauty, so youths know nothing of the spiritual husbandries of past days, to which they are indebted for the moral attractiveness they have to others, and the moral strength which they themselves deem sufficient." — 1864 May 1, Thomas T. Lynch, “The Young Ruler; or, The Great Refusal: A Sermon”, in E. J. Evans, W. F. Hurndall, editors, Pulpit Memorials. Photographs and Specimen Sermons of Twenty Congregational Ministers, with Brief Memoirs by Several Friend, London: James Clarke & Co. […]; Hodder & Stoughton, […], published 1878, →OCLC, page 445:
"Both the foraging in fields and woods and the small husbandries of household and barn have now been almost entirely replaced by the "consumer economy," which assumes that it is better to buy whatever one needs than to find it or make it or grow it." — 2009, Wendell Berry, “Sanitation and the Small Farm”, in Bringing It to the Table: On Farming and Food, Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint, →ISBN, part I (Farming), page 83:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
Crop rotation and careful ____ kept the family farm productive for years.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
Sustainable animal ____ focuses on the health and welfare of farm livestock.

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