graveyard

American  

[greyv-yahrd] / ˈgreɪvˌyɑrd /

noun

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

2. Informal. graveyard shift.

3. a place in which obsolete or derelict objects are kept.

   an automobile graveyard.

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graveyard British  

/ ˈɡreɪvˌjɑːd /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of graveyard

First recorded in 1765–75; grave ¹ + yard ²

Compare meaning

How does graveyard compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• cemetery vs. graveyard

Example Sentences

More than a century after the Penrods first arrived, the name is visible on road signs, a graveyard, and a good number of business cards, phone listings and high school year book entries.

From Los Angeles Times

"We are ghosts on the night shift," says Leandro Cristovao from Angola, who has worked the graveyard shift at a south London market for seven years.

From Barron's

"They used to come to this place to eat fruits. But now it seems to have become their graveyard."

From BBC

Mining sites pop up wherever local people find deposits in this land laden with riches - on farmland, in former graveyards and along riverbeds.

From BBC

Many older satellites are shifted into "graveyard orbits," while others become drifting orbital debris that can disrupt the operation of active systems.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• burial ground
• cemetery