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acre

[ey-ker]
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noun
  1. a common measure of area: in the U.S. and U.K., 1 acre equals 4,840 square yards (4,047 square meters) or 0.405 hectare; 640 acres equals one square mile.
  2. acres,
    1. lands; land: wooded acres.
    2. Informal.large quantities: acres of Oriental rugs.
  3. Archaic. a plowed or sown field.
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Origin of acre

before 1000; Middle English aker, Old English æcer; cognate with Old Frisian ekker, Old Saxon akkar, Old High German ackar (German Acker), Old Norse akr, Gothic akers, Latin ager, Greek agrós, Sanskrit ájra-; see also acorn, agrarian, agrestic, agriculture, agro-
Related formshalf-a·cre, noun

Acre

[ah-kruh for 1; ah-ker, ey-ker for 2]
noun
  1. a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Capital: Rio Branco.
  2. a seaport in NW Israel: besieged and captured by Crusaders 1191.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for acre

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • I think every acre of land suitable for garden or field cultivation is taken.

    Her Father's Daughter

    Gene Stratton-Porter

  • "I wish I had an acre for every good thrashing I got when I was a boy," he commented drily.

    Dust

    Mr. and Mrs. Haldeman-Julius

  • It is a quiet spot, but without gloom, as befits "God's Acre."

  • Tableland there is none except little patches of less than an acre.

  • This was forty rods, or poles, and four of these furrows made up the acre.

    English Villages

    P. H. Ditchfield

British Dictionary definitions for acre

acre

noun
  1. a unit of area used in certain English-speaking countries, equal to 4840 square yards or 4046.86 square metres
  2. (plural)
    1. land, esp a large area
    2. informala large amounthe has acres of space in his room
  3. farm the long acre NZ to graze cows on the verge of a road
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Word Origin

Old English æcer field, acre; related to Old Norse akr, German Acker, Latin ager field, Sanskrit ajra field

Acre

noun
  1. (ˈɑːkrə) a state of W Brazil: mostly unexplored tropical forests; acquired from Bolivia in 1903. Capital: Rio Branco. Pop: 586 942 (2002). Area: 152 589 sq km (58 899 sq miles)
  2. (ˈeɪkə, ˈɑːkə) a city and port in N Israel, strategically situated on the Bay of Acre in the E Mediterranean: taken and retaken during the Crusades (1104, 1187, 1191, 1291), taken by the Turks (1517), by Egypt (1832), and by the Turks again (1839). Pop: 45 600 (2001)Old Testament name: Accho (ɑːˈkəʊ) Arabic name: `Akka (ɑːˈkɑː) Hebrew name: `Akko (ɑːˈkəʊ)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for acre

n.

Old English æcer "tilled field, open land," from Proto-Germanic *akraz "field, pasture" (cf. Old Norse akr, Old Saxon akkar, Old Frisian ekker, Middle Dutch acker, Dutch akker, Old High German achar, German acker, Gothic akrs), from PIE *agro- "field" (cf. Latin ager "field, land," Greek agros, Sanskrit ajras "plain, open country").

Originally in English without reference to dimension; in late Old English the amount of land a yoke of oxen could plow in a day, afterward defined by statute as a piece 40 poles by 4, or an equivalent shape (5 Edw. I, 31 Edw. III, 24 Hen. VIII). Original sense retained in God's acre "churchyard."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
acre in Science

acre

[ā′kər]
  1. A unit of area in the US Customary System, used in land and sea floor measurement and equal to 43,560 square feet or 4,047 square meters.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.