sharecrop
[ shair-krop ]
/ ˈʃɛərˌkrɒp /
verb (used with or without object), share·cropped, share·crop·ping.
to farm as a sharecropper.
Origin of sharecrop
1865–70,
Americanism; back formation from
sharecropper
Words nearby sharecrop
Example sentences from the Web for sharecropping
The family had grown up dirt-poor, sharecropping the 20,000 acres of cotton that stretched out below Sand Mountain.
British Dictionary definitions for sharecropping
sharecrop
/ (ˈʃɛəˌkrɒp) /
verb -crops, -cropping or -cropped
mainly US
to cultivate (farmland) as a sharecropper
Cultural definitions for sharecropping
sharecropping
A system of farming that developed in the South after the Civil War, when landowners, many of whom had formerly held slaves, lacked the cash to pay wages to farm laborers, many of whom were former slaves. The system called for dividing the crop into three shares — one for the landowner, one for the worker, and one for whoever provided seeds, fertilizer, and farm equipment.