acre

[ey-ker]

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noun

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.

acres,

lands; land: wooded acres.
Informal.large quantities: acres of Oriental rugs.

Archaic. a plowed or sown field.

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

a state in W Brazil. 58,900 sq. mi. (152,550 sq. km). Capital: Rio Branco.

a seaport in NW Israel: besieged and captured by Crusaders 1191.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for acre

Contemporary Examples of acre

His attempt to boost farm wages, called the Agricultural Adjustment Act, supposedly "plowed under" every fourth acre.
When America Said No to War
Marc Wortman
September 10, 2013
A video shows counselors calling for violent conquering of Jaffa and Acre (Akko).
Propagandize For Israel And Get A Free Ride At College
Orly Halpern
August 13, 2013
Looking for a rec center with an acre of cardio and weight machines like the ones used at the Beijing Olympics?
The Real College Crisis Isn’t About Student Loan Rates
Patricia Murphy
July 11, 2013
In 1981, the average price of farmland in Iowa was $2,147 per acre; by 1986, the average farm brought $787 an acre.
Don't Get Too Stressed About the Farm Bubble
Justin Green
April 1, 2013

Historical Examples of acre

It was a wooden house of four or five rooms, with an ample veranda, surrounded by an acre of ground fenced in.
White Shadows in the South Seas
Frederick O'Brien
Can a living for a family be made from a five acre poultry farm?
The Dollar Hen
Milo M. Hastings
Not an acre of all the land which lay south of them, Kentucky, but was drenched by blood they spilt.
Historic Highways of America (Vol. 3)
Archer Butler Hulbert
In Ireland the cultivated portion of a holding is often no bigger relatively than that work-table on an acre of waste.
About Ireland
E. Lynn Linton
No power in the kingdom could wrest a yard of the highway nor an acre of green sea from the possession of the nation.
Britain for the British
Robert Blatchford

British Dictionary definitions for acre

acre

noun

a unit of area used in certain English-speaking countries, equal to 4840 square yards or 4046.86 square metres

(plural)

land, esp a large area
informala large amounthe has acres of space in his room

farm the long acre NZ to graze cows on the verge of a road

Word Origin for acre

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

Acre

noun

(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)

(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)

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

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."

Science definitions for acre