graveyard

[greyv-yahrd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR graveyard ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a burial ground, often associated with smaller rural churches, as distinct from a larger urban or public cemetery.

Informal. graveyard shift.

a place in which obsolete or derelict objects are kept: an automobile graveyard.

Origin of graveyard

First recorded in 1765–75; grave¹ + yard²

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

Related Words for graveyard

cemetery, necropolis, boneyard

Examples from the Web for graveyard

Contemporary Examples of graveyard

Today, a forlorn air hangs over Santa Maria degli Angeli, like a graveyard where ghosts are buried.
The Venetian Nuns Who Ditched Their Habits for High Fashion
Liza Foreman
September 14, 2014
By Alex Orlov for Life by DailyBurn If your fridge is a graveyard of expired foods, listen up.
Can This Device Save You From Food Poisoning?
DailyBurn
May 30, 2014
On August 16, 1876, the chapel and its graveyard, Campo Santo, opened.
The Sacrificial Limbs of New Orleans
Nina Strochlic
March 12, 2014
From whales to ships to unlucky explorers, the Skeleton Coast has become the graveyard of many.
Namibia’s Spooky Skeleton Coast
Nina Strochlic
March 5, 2014
A man took the bus home from the graveyard shift, bone-tired but dreaming big dreams for his son.
Full Text of President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union Address
January 29, 2014

Historical Examples of graveyard

And he stood there lookin', and he says to me: 'No, Katy, that is a graveyard.'
Her Father's Daughter
Gene Stratton-Porter
On walks along the waterfront he would treat it all like a graveyard.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole
So you stop away from school, and I find you in the graveyard!
Abbe Mouret's Transgression
Emile Zola
But he rather liked to visit the graveyard on Sunday afternoons.
Cy Whittaker's Place
Joseph C. Lincoln
Kendrick, I wasn't so far off when I talked about that graveyard trip, eh?
Fair Harbor
Joseph Crosby Lincoln

British Dictionary definitions for graveyard

graveyard

noun

a place for graves; a burial ground, esp a small one or one in a churchyard

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 graveyard

1773, from grave (n.) + yard (n.1). Graveyard shift "late-night work" is c.1907, from earlier nautical term, in reference to the loneliness of after-hours work.