(in Ireland) a peasant farming a smallholding under cottier tenure (the holding of not more than half an acre at a rent of not more than five pounds a year)
3. another name for cottager (sense 1)
Word origin
C14: from Old French cotier; see cote1, coterie
cottier in American English
(ˈkɑtiər)
noun
1.
in Great Britain and Ireland, a farmer who lives in a cottage
2. Obsolete
in Ireland, a peasant renting a small piece of land under a system (called cottier tenure) of renting land to the highest bidder