yard
1a common unit of linear measure in English-speaking countries, equal to 3 feet or 36 inches, and equivalent to 0.9144 meter.
Nautical. a long spar, supported more or less at its center, to which the head of a square sail, lateen sail, or lugsail is bent.
Informal. a large quantity or extent.
Slang. one hundred or, usually, one thousand dollars.
Idioms about yard
the whole nine yards, Informal.
everything that is pertinent, appropriate, or available.
in all ways; in every respect; all the way: If you want to run for mayor, I'll be with you the whole nine yards.
Origin of yard
1Words Nearby yard
Other definitions for yard (2 of 2)
the ground that immediately adjoins or surrounds a house, public building, or other structure.
an enclosed area outdoors, often paved and surrounded by or adjacent to a building; court.
ballpark: It’s been a long road trip for the Mariners, and they’ll be glad to get back to their own yard on Tuesday.
an outdoor enclosure designed for the exercise of students, inmates, etc.: a prison yard.
an outdoor space surrounded by a group of buildings, as on a college campus.
a pen or other enclosure for livestock.
an enclosure within which any work or business is carried on (often used in combination): navy yard; a brickyard.
an outside area used for storage, assembly, or the like.
Railroads. a system of parallel tracks, crossovers, switches, etc., where cars are switched and made up into trains and where cars, locomotives, and other rolling stock are kept when not in use or when awaiting repairs.
the winter pasture or browsing ground of moose and deer.
the Yard, British. Scotland Yard (def. 2).
to put into, enclose, or store in a yard.
Origin of yard
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use yard in a sentence
Others munch on the berries and other fruits that people grow in their yards.
Are coyotes moving into your neighborhood? | Kathryn Hulick | September 3, 2020 | Science News For StudentsFor years, Amazon has envisioned deploying drones to deliver packages to customers’ yards.
Amazon is one big step closer to delivering packages by drone | Rob Verger | September 2, 2020 | Popular-ScienceThen, as now, development regulations in the city placed standalone homes with their own yards — and the residents who could afford them — above all else.
Morning Report: A Century of Single Family Home Supremacy | Voice of San Diego | August 27, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoThese numbers may vary depending on your pet’s age and energy level, as well as whether you have a fenced-in yard.
It means someone went out and put a bunch of yard signs out.
Jettison your lawyers as a source of prison-yard guidance, Abramoff said.
Abramoff’s Advice for Virginia’s New Jailhouse Guv | Tim Mak, Jackie Kucinich | January 7, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTParker writes of the “black-faced doe” that he sees in the yard in his new Texas house.
Just right for that person who needs a little creative push to do something daring in their yard.
Later that day he made a call from the row of phones in the yard and reached his wife for the first time in six months.
The victim was himself dangerous, and also the strongest man in the yard.
Sol got up, slowly; took a backward step into the yard; filled his lungs, opened his mouth, made his eyes round.
The Bondboy | George W. (George Washington) OgdenThey ran side by side across the yard to a roofed flight of steps that led to the printing-office.
Hilda Lessways | Arnold BennettAfter his death crowds flocked to his grave to touch his holy monument, till the authorities caused the church yard to be shut.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellIn the court-yard of the hotel was standing the voiture, which had come in some twenty minutes before us.
The huge sail thrust its yard high above the fog bank, and watchers on the river side saw it.
The Red Year | Louis Tracy
British Dictionary definitions for yard (1 of 3)
/ (jɑːd) /
a unit of length equal to 3 feet and defined in 1963 as exactly 0.9144 metre: Abbreviation: yd
a cylindrical wooden or hollow metal spar, tapered at the ends, slung from a mast of a square-rigged or lateen-rigged vessel and used for suspending a sail
short for yardstick (def. 2)
put in the hard yards Australian informal to make a great effort to achieve an end
the whole nine yards informal everything that is required; the whole thing
Origin of yard
1British Dictionary definitions for yard (2 of 3)
/ (jɑːd) /
a piece of enclosed ground, usually either paved or laid with concrete and often adjoining or surrounded by a building or buildings
an enclosed or open area used for some commercial activity, for storage, etc: a railway yard
(in combination): a brickyard; a shipyard
a US and Canadian word for garden (def. 1)
an area having a network of railway tracks and sidings, used for storing rolling stock, making up trains, etc
US and Canadian the winter pasture of deer, moose, and similar animals
Australian and NZ an enclosed area used to draw off part of a herd, etc
to draft (animals), esp to a saleyard
Origin of yard
2British Dictionary definitions for Yard (3 of 3)
/ (jɑːd) /
the Yard British informal short for Scotland Yard
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
Scientific definitions for yard
[ yärd ]
A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 3 feet or 36 inches (0.91 meter). See Table at measurement.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Other Idioms and Phrases with yard
see all wool and a yard wide; in one's own back yard; whole nine yards.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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