yard

¹

[ yahrd ]

noun

1. a common unit of linear measure in English-speaking countries, equal to 3 feet or 36 inches, and equivalent to 0.9144 meter.
2. Nautical. a long spar, supported more or less at its center, to which the head of a square sail, lateen sail, or lugsail is bent.
3. yard-of-ale.
4. Informal. a large quantity or extent.
5. Slang. one hundred or, usually, one thousand dollars.

yard

²

[ yahrd ]

noun

1. the ground that immediately adjoins or surrounds a house, public building, or other structure.
2. an enclosed area outdoors, often paved and surrounded by or adjacent to a building; court.
3. ballpark:

   It’s been a long road trip for the Mariners, and they’ll be glad to get back to their own yard on Tuesday.

4. an outdoor enclosure designed for the exercise of students, inmates, etc.:

   a prison yard.

5. an outdoor space surrounded by a group of buildings, as on a college campus.
6. a pen or other enclosure for livestock.
7. an enclosure within which any work or business is carried on (often used in combination):

   navy yard; a brickyard.

8. an outside area used for storage, assembly, or the like.
9. Railroads. a system of parallel tracks, crossovers, switches, etc., where cars are switched and made up into trains and where cars, locomotives, and other rolling stock are kept when not in use or when awaiting repairs.
10. a piece of ground set aside for cultivation; garden; field.
11. the winter pasture or browsing ground of moose and deer.
12. the Yard, British. Scotland Yard ( def 2 ).

verb (used with object)

1. to put into, enclose, or store in a yard.

yard

¹

/ jɑːd /

noun

1. a unit of length equal to 3 feet and defined in 1963 as exactly 0.9144 metre yd
2. a cylindrical wooden or hollow metal spar, tapered at the ends, slung from a mast of a square-rigged or lateen-rigged vessel and used for suspending a sail
3. See yardstick
   short for yardstick
4. put in the hard yards informal.
   put in the hard yards to make a great effort to achieve an end
5. the whole nine yards informal.
   the whole nine yards everything that is required; the whole thing

Yard

²

/ jɑːd /

noun

1. See Scotland Yard
   the Yard informal.
   the Yard short for Scotland Yard

yard

³

/ jɑːd /

noun

1. a piece of enclosed ground, usually either paved or laid with concrete and often adjoining or surrounded by a building or buildings
2. 1. an enclosed or open area used for some commercial activity, for storage, etc

      a railway yard

   2. ( in combination )

      a brickyard

      a shipyard

3. See garden
   a US and Canadian word for garden
4. an area having a network of railway tracks and sidings, used for storing rolling stock, making up trains, etc
5. the winter pasture of deer, moose, and similar animals
6. an enclosed area used to draw off part of a herd, etc
7. See stockyard, saleyard
   short for saleyard stockyard

verb

1. to draft (animals), esp to a saleyard

yard

/ yärd /

1. A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 3 feet or 36 inches (0.91 meter).
2. See Table at measurement

Word History and Origins

Origin of yard¹

First recorded before 950; Middle English yerd(e), yard(e) “stick, pole, rod,” Old English gird, gierd, gerd “bough, staff, rod”; cognate with Dutch gard, German Gerte “rod, twig”

Origin of yard²

First recorded before 900; Middle English yerd(e), yard(e), Old English geard “enclosure”; cognate with Dutch gaard “garden,” Old Norse garthr “yard,” Gothic gards “house,” Latin hortus “garden,” Greek chórtos “enclosure, court,” Old Irish gort “field,” Slavic (Polish) gród “castle, town”; akin to garden, garth ( def )

Word History and Origins

Origin of yard¹

Old English gierd rod, twig; related to Old Frisian jerde, Old Saxon gerdia, Old High German gertia, Old Norse gaddr

Origin of yard²

Old English geard; related to Old Saxon gard, Old High German gart, Old Norse garthr yard, Gothic gards house, Old Slavonic gradu town, castle, Albanian garth hedge

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. go yard, Baseball Slang. to hit a home run:

   It looks as if he may go yard with this one—and he does, just inches from the foul pole!

2. the whole nine yards, Informal.
   1. everything that is pertinent, appropriate, or available.
   2. in all ways; in every respect; all the way:

      If you want to run for mayor, I'll be with you the whole nine yards.

More idioms and phrases containing yard

see all wool and a yard wide ; in one's own back yard ; whole nine yards .

Example Sentences

Jettison your lawyers as a source of prison-yard guidance, Abramoff said.

From The Daily Beast

Parker writes of the “black-faced doe” that he sees in the yard in his new Texas house.

From The Daily Beast

Just right for that person who needs a little creative push to do something daring in their yard.

From The Daily Beast

Later that day he made a call from the row of phones in the yard and reached his wife for the first time in six months.

From The Daily Beast

The victim was himself dangerous, and also the strongest man in the yard.

From The Daily Beast

Sol got up, slowly; took a backward step into the yard; filled his lungs, opened his mouth, made his eyes round.

From Project Gutenberg

They ran side by side across the yard to a roofed flight of steps that led to the printing-office.

From Project Gutenberg

After his death crowds flocked to his grave to touch his holy monument, till the authorities caused the church yard to be shut.

From Project Gutenberg

In the court-yard of the hotel was standing the voiture, which had come in some twenty minutes before us.

From Project Gutenberg

The huge sail thrust its yard high above the fog bank, and watchers on the river side saw it.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• backyard
• courtyard
• garden
• grass
• lawn
• lot
• patch
• patio
• playground