Hypertext Webster Gateway: "peasant"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Peasant \Peas"ant\, n. [OF. pa["i]sant (the i being perh. due to
confusion with the p. pr. of verbs), pa["i]san, F. paysan,
fr. OF. & F. pays country, fr. L. pagus the country. See
{Pagan}.]
A countryman; a rustic; especially, one of the lowest class
of tillers of the soil in European countries.
Syn: Countryman; rustic; swain; hind.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Peasant \Peas"ant\, a.
Rustic, rural. --Spenser.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
peasant
n 1: a country person [syn: {provincial}, {bucolic}]
2: one of a (chiefly European) class of agricultural laborers
3: a crude uncouth ill-bred person lacking culture or
refinement [syn: {barbarian}, {boor}, {churl}, {Goth}, {tyke},
{tike}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.