orchard

American  

[awr-cherd] / ˈɔr tʃərd /

noun

1. an area of land devoted to the cultivation of fruit or nut trees.

2. a group or collection of such trees.

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orchard British  

/ ˈɔːtʃəd /

noun

1. an area of land devoted to the cultivation of fruit trees

2. a collection of fruit trees especially cultivated

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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

Example Sentences

“I’m afraid I’m not good on dragons. I know the red-winged, the silver, the yellow, the starlit, the bearded, and the orchard dragon. But the sea is my specialism, not the sky.”

From Literature

Apples are also among the most heavily treated fruits, with pesticides used in particular to fight apple scab, the main fungal threat to orchards.

From Barron's

I tell him about the vegetable gardens, the orchards, the greenhouse, pigs, chickens, sheep, and goats.

From Literature

White, in comparing magazine writing to “finding an apple in an orchard and polishing it up and selling it on the street.”

From The Wall Street Journal

Participants spend months learning how to plant orchards, raise free-range livestock and tap syrup from the thickets of maple and sycamore trees.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• garden
• plantation