orchard
Americannoun
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an area of land devoted to the cultivation of fruit or nut trees.
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a group or collection of such trees.
noun
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an area of land devoted to the cultivation of fruit trees
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a collection of fruit trees especially cultivated
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of orchard
before 900; Middle English orch ( i ) ard, Old English orceard; replacing ortyard, Middle English ortyerd, Old English ortigeard (compare Gothic aurtigards garden), equivalent to ort- (combining form akin to wort 2; later identified with Latin hortus garden) + geard yard 2
Explanation
An orchard is a tree garden. If you visit New England in autumn, make sure to stop by a local apple orchard and pick a few baskets to take home. From the Old English orceard blossomed our modern-day spelling of orchard, a noun meaning “fruit farm.” But you can also use the word figuratively to refer to something filled with treats or precious content. The US Congregational minister, Henry Ward Beecher, was famous for having proclaimed, “A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”
Vocabulary lists containing orchard
The Balcony Scene from "Romeo and Juliet"
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"Mending Wall," by Robert Frost
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"Water at Work"
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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.
Those were partially offset by increases in the Sun Cruiser, Angry Orchard, and Dogfish Head brands, the company said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 30, 2026
Tennessee Republican Party Chair Scott Golden offered this warning to party faithful last week at the Cumberland County Lincoln Day Dinner in the tiny town of Crab Orchard.
From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025
It’s the reason that newly built neighborhoods such as Orchard Hills in Irvine require higher fireproofing standards for homes on the outer rim of the community.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 12, 2025
Authorities say the suspect approached residences on the 1100 block of 28th Street and the 2600 block of Orchard Avenue, claiming he was there to fix a water leak.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 8, 2025
Not long ago in a large university town in California, on a street called Orchard Avenue, a strange old man ran a dusty shabby store.
From "The Egypt Game" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
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.
