curtilage
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of curtilage
1250–1300; Middle English courtelage < Anglo-French; Old French cortillage, equivalent to cortil yard ( cort court + -il diminutive suffix) + -age -age
Explanation
Curtilage is a fancy legal term for the enclosed land that surrounds a building and belongs with it as part of the same property. The term comes from the Old French word cortil, meaning a "little court, walled garden, or yard." It's an important legal distinction for many reasons: In some American states, evidence improperly gathered from the curtilage of a property is considered as inadmissible as that gathered from inside a building on the property. In other cases, a property owner may legally defend himself against home invasion within the curtilage of his property, not just within the building itself.
Vocabulary lists containing curtilage
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.
Thousands of people from around the world “walked together” into that book and the mountains it describes, at a time when most of us could go no further than the curtilage of our dwellings.
From New York Times • Nov. 19, 2020
A curtilage is the area within the outer boundary of a home’s environs: the patios, yard and driveway.
From Economist • May 30, 2018
But Sotomayor wrote: “Nothing in our case law . . . suggests that the automobile exception gives an officer the right to enter a home or its curtilage to access a vehicle without a warrant.”
From Washington Post • May 29, 2018
Even a relatively minor search, like the one Rhodes conducted, triggers this warrant requirement so long as the officer “physically intrudes on the curtilage to gather evidence.”
From Slate • May 29, 2018
It was the common land that had once belonged within the curtilage of St. Ninian’s.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
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.
