Grange

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɡɹeɪnd͡ʒ/

Definitions

1. A large country house with farm buildings attached, or a local chapter of a farmers' association
2. A rural property typically featuring a farmhouse and associated agricultural structures, or a collective entity promoting farming education and cooperation among local farmers
3. A rural estate that includes a main house and various farming buildings ; an organization formed to support and unite local farmers

Etymology: The word "grange" began life as a plain storehouse for grain. It was borrowed into Middle English from Old French "grange," which meant "granary, barn, or small farm," and that French word came from Vulgar Latin "grānica," a derivative of Latin "grānum," meaning "grain." The name describes exactly what such buildings held: the harvest, stored close to where it was grown. Over time the meaning widened from the storehouse to the whole working holding around it. In English, a grange came to mean a farmhouse together with its outbuildings, the cluster of barns, sheds and stores that made up a farm. The word kept that rural sense, so the modern usage still points back to the grain at its root.

Synonyms: barn, farm