arpent

American  

[ahr-puhnt, ar-pahn] / ˈɑr pənt, arˈpɑ̃ /

noun

• arpents
  plural

1. an old French unit of area equal to about one acre (0.4 hectare). It is still used in the province of Quebec and in parts of Louisiana.

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arpent British  

/ arpɑ̃, ˈɑːpənt /

noun

1. a former French unit of length equal to 190 feet (approximately 58 metres)

2. an old French unit of land area equal to about one acre: still used in Quebec and Louisiana

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• arpents
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of arpent

1570–80; < Middle French < Latin arepennis half-acre < Gaulish; akin to MIr airchenn unit of area

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arpent arpents

It was estimated that an industrious settler, working by himself, could clear not more than one superficial arpent in a whole season.

From Crusaders of New France A Chronicle of the Fleur-de-Lis in the Wilderness Chronicles of America, Volume 4 by William Bennett Munro

Looking from the Chateau de Notre Dame de la Garde, it would seem as if there was a bastide for every arpent.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph

Each grant varied from sixteen arpents—an arpent being about five-sixths of an English acre—by fifty, to ten leagues by twelve.

From Lord Elgin by Sir John George Bourinot

In general, in the regions of large farms, the proprietor obtains ten livres the arpent if the cultivation is very good, and three livres when ordinary.

From The Ancient Regime by John Durand

The superficial arpent, or arpent of area, contained about five-sixths of an acre.

From The Seigneurs of Old Canada : A Chronicle of New World Feudalism by William Bennett Munro

Stengel's critique neatly encapsulates a view that has remained unchanged since Voltaire dismissed North America as "a few arpents of snow."

From Time Magazine Archive

The 1681 census discloses that Jean and Marguerite owned two guns, their 30 arpents, eight cattle, and had four children at home.

From Time Magazine Archive

To each was assigned, moreover, sixty arpents of land beyond the limits of the village, with the perpetual rent of half a sou for each arpent.

From France and England in North America; a Series of Historical Narratives — Part 3 by Francis Parkman

Monsieur de Laye has a seignory of about fifteen thousand arpents, in pasture, corn, vines, and wood.

From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph

In riding away from service on Sunday the horseman was forbidden to break into a canter until he had travelled ten arpents from the church.

From Old Quebec The Fortress of New France by Claude Glennon Bryan

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