arpent
Americannoun
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arpents
plural
noun
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a former French unit of length equal to 190 feet (approximately 58 metres)
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an old French unit of land area equal to about one acre: still used in Quebec and Louisiana
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of arpent
1570–80; < Middle French < Latin arepennis half-acre < Gaulish; akin to MIr airchenn unit of area
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
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
But I'm not go more mebbe t'ree arpent, w'en de sky is get black all roun', An' de win' she blow lak I never see, an' de beeg snowstorm come down.
From The Habitant and Other French-Canadian Poems by William Henry Drummond
An arpent of ground for corn rents at from thirty to thirty-six livres.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
Supposing them three toises apart, there will be one hundred to the arpent, which gives three hundred livres a year, besides the corn growing on the same ground.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 2 by Thomas Jefferson Randolph
In many places it has doubled within the last twenty-five years; an arpent now selling for 1000 francs, which was formerly sold for 500.
From Travels in France during the years 1814-15 Comprising a residence at Paris, during the stay of the allied armies, and at Aix, at the period of the landing of Bonaparte, in two volumes. by Sir Archibald Alison
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
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
A Governor's Secretary, a Judge's nephew, or some Clerk of Records was entitled to at least a thousand acres; the Governor's cook to 700 arpents.
From The Rise of Canada, from Barbarism to Wealth and Civilisation Volume 1 by Charles Roger
More than this the seigneur often reserved the right to take such a site to the extent of six arpents for his own use without any compensation to the habitant.
From A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861 by George McKinnon Wrong
Thus for a farm of 100 acres, with two arpents of frontage, a habitant might pay $1.00 in cash and two capons.
From A Canadian Manor and Its Seigneurs The Story of a Hundred Years, 1761-1861 by George McKinnon Wrong
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