/yoh"meuhn/ , n. , pl. yeomen , adj.
n.
1. a petty officer in a navy, having chiefly clerical duties in the U.S. Navy.
2. Brit. a farmer who cultivates his own land.
3. Hist. one of a class of lesser freeholders, below the gentry, who cultivated their own land, early admitted in England to political rights.
4. Archaic.
a. a servant, attendant, or subordinate official in a royal or other great household.
b. a subordinate or assistant, as of a sheriff or other official or in a craft or trade.
adj.
5. of, pertaining to, composed of, or characteristic of yeomen: the yeoman class.
6. performed or rendered in a loyal, valiant, useful, or workmanlike manner, esp. in situations that involve a great deal of effort or labor: He did a yeoman job on the problem.
[ 1300-50; ME yeman, yoman, prob. reduced forms of yengman, yongman, yungman, with similar sense; see YOUNG, MAN 1 ]