arpent
Americannoun
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:
An arpent des eaux et forets, or legal acre of France, of which 1.
From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 by Ross, Thomasina
We're goin' to have half an arpent square of flowers, an' she'll love to work among 'em.
From Back to God's Country and Other Stories by Curwood, James Oliver
I learned in the course of my walk that she was the daughter of a small farmer: the farm was small indeed, being about half an arpent, or acre.
From Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 by Pinkney, Lt-Col.
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 Bourinot, John George, Sir
The wheat was invariably spring-sown, and the yield averaged from eight to twelve hundredweights per arpent, or from ten to fourteen bushels per acre.
From Crusaders of New France A Chronicle of the Fleur-de-Lis in the Wilderness Chronicles of America, Volume 4 by Munro, William Bennett
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
The cultivation of even a few arpents required a great deal of manual drudgery.
From Crusaders of New France A Chronicle of the Fleur-de-Lis in the Wilderness Chronicles of America, Volume 4 by Munro, William Bennett
The demesne estate at one time comprised about 2500 arpents.
From The Manor House of Lacolle A description and historical sketch of the Manoir of the Seigniory of de Beaujeu of Lacolle by Lighthall, W. D. (William Douw)
He also set apart a common, two hundred arpents in extent, for the use of the settlers, on condition of the payment by each of five sous a year.
From France and England in North America; a Series of Historical Narratives — Part 3 by Parkman, Francis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
