yard

¹ American  

[yahrd] / yɑrd /

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. British.  the Yard, Scotland Yard.

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verb (used with object)

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

idioms

1. go yard,  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!

yard ² American  

[yahrd] / yɑrd /

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.

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idioms

1. the whole nine yards,

   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.

yard ¹ British  

/ jɑːd /

noun

1.  yd.  a unit of length equal to 3 feet and defined in 1963 as exactly 0.9144 metre

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. short for yardstick

4. informal  to make a great effort to achieve an end

5. informal  everything that is required; the whole thing

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yard ² British  

/ 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. 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. short for saleyard stockyard

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verb

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

Yard ³ British  

/ jɑːd /

noun

1. informal  short for Scotland Yard

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yard Scientific  

/ 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

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yard More Idioms  

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

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Etymology

Origin of yard¹

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. )

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”

Example Sentences

But even before he was ruled out Sunday, fans were calling for McCarthy to be benched after a horror show performance in his last appearance, when he threw for just 87 yards with two interceptions.

From The Wall Street Journal

On Christmas Day in 2017, he saw a small bear cub run across his yard.

From Los Angeles Times

Instead, he takes a nice big touch and it's just the calm nature in which he just clips it straight in from 47.4 yards.

From BBC

He completed 15 of 20 passes for 151 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception.

From Los Angeles Times

There are stacks of hay bales around meant for sheep to eat, now left unused in the yard of the farm and soon to rot.

From BBC

Related Words

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