courtyard
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of courtyard
Explanation
A courtyard is an area outside a building that's framed and somewhat enclosed by walls. Your friend might ask you to meet her in the courtyard of her apartment complex. In cities, courtyards provide small, private outdoor areas. Courtyards are often nestled between buildings, or tucked away behind them. For nearly as long as people have built houses and buildings, courtyards have existed — although in the past, they were used for keeping animals, cooking over an open fire, and sometimes even sleeping. The word dates from the 1550s, combining court, from the Latin cohors, "enclosed yard," and yard, from a Germanic root also meaning "enclosure."
Vocabulary lists containing courtyard
Guts
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American Street
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Lesson 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Visitors to the maze, located in the Parisian Courtyard, are greeted by La Muerte before entering the haunted house.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 4, 2023
Commissioned by businessman Albert Hambach, the building was designed by Charles Saunder and George Lawton, who helped supervise the construction of the nearby Alaska Building, now the Courtyard by Marriott.
From Seattle Times • May 24, 2023
In the Courtyard Brasserie opposite, owner Amir Nazary accepts that the bus cuts have come on top of the cost of living crisis and cold weather, which may have kept diners from coming out.
From BBC • Jan. 13, 2023
Chesterton classic “The Oracle of the Dog,” followed by Vincent Cornier’s eerie “The Courtyard of the Fly,” in which a huge insect carries off a string of valuable pearls.
From Washington Post • Dec. 8, 2022
They agreed, but only to and from The Courtyard, the fancy outdoor shopping center, during the day and with advance permission.
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
