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boulevard

 - 5 dictionary results

boul⋅e⋅vard

  [bool-uh-vahrd, boo-luh-]
Use boulevard in a Sentence
–noun
1. a broad avenue in a city, usually having areas at the sides or center for trees, grass, or flowers.
2. Also called boulevard strip. Upper Midwest. a strip of lawn between a sidewalk and the curb.
Origin:
1765–75; < F, MF (orig. Picard, Walloon): rampart, avenue built on the site of a razed rampart < MD bol(le)werc; see bulwark

Synonyms:
See street.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To boulevard
boul·e·vard   (bŏŏl'ə-värd', bōō'lə-)   
n.  

  1. A broad city street, often tree-lined and landscaped.

  2. Upper Midwest See parking. See Regional Note at parking.

  3. Chiefly Midwestern U.S. See median strip. See Regional Note at neutral ground.


[French, from Old French bollevart, rampart converted to a promenade, from Middle Dutch bolwerc, bulwark; see bulwark.]
median strip  
n.   Eastern, Midwestern, & Southern U.S.
The dividing area, either paved or landscaped, between opposing lanes of traffic on some highways. Also called median; also called regionally boulevard, mall1, medial strip, meridian, neutral ground. See Regional Note at neutral ground.
park·ing   (pär'kĭng)   
n.  

  1. The act or practice of temporarily leaving a vehicle or maneuvering a vehicle into a certain location.

  2. Space in which to park vehicles or a vehicle: ample parking behind the building.

  3. Upper Midwest & Western U.S. The grass strip, often planted with shade trees, between a sidewalk and a street. Also called regionally boulevard, boulevard strip, grassplot, neutral ground, parking strip, parkway, terrace, tree belt, tree lawn.

  4. Slang Kissing or caressing in a vehicle stopped in a secluded spot.

To the majority of Americans, the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the street is called simply the grassy strip between the sidewalk and the street. However, in some parts of the country, it has acquired specific names. In the Midwest and West, it is often called the parking or parkway, and in Washington State it is the parking strip, according to the survey conducted by the Dictionary of American Regional English. In the Upper Midwest, it is also known as the boulevard or boulevard strip; around the Great Lakes and in the Midwest, it is sometimes a terrace; around the Great Lakes and in especially northeastern Ohio, it is also called a tree lawn. In Massachusetts it is a tree belt; in the Atlantic states, sometimes a grassplot; and in Louisiana and Mississippi, neutral ground. Some of these words are also used for the grassy strip in the middle of a street or highway. See Note at neutral ground.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

boulevard 
1769, from Fr., originally "top surface of a military rampart," from a garbled attempt to adopt M.Du. bolwerc "wall of a fortification" (see bulwark) into Fr., which lacks a -w-. The original notion is of a promenade laid out atop demolished city walls, which would be much wider than urban streets. Originally in Eng. with conscious echoes of Paris; since 1929, in U.S., used of multi-lane limited-access urban highways.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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