transitive verb
1. : to turn over for performance (as a job or part of an operation) or for use (as a property or privilege) usually on contract or for some agreed payment to one not usually responsible for such performance or entitled to such use
it is often desirable to farm out highly specialized operations
the candidate was willing to farm out a few votes to check the rise of the new party
2.
a. : to put (as children or prisoners) into the hands of a private individual for care in return for a fee
farmed out the baby with her grandmother and went to work in town
state wards are often farmed out to private families
b. : to send (a professional athlete) to a farm team
3.
a. : to exhaust (land) by farming, especially by continued cropping under a monoculture system
much of the foothills has been farmed out with tobacco
b. : to drill (oil wells) on a piece of ground to the extent permitted by law, the terms of a lease, or circumstances