yard definition | Dictionary.com

yard

1 [yahrd]

–noun

1.	a common unit of linear measure in English-speaking countries, equal to 3 feet or 36 inches, and equivalent to 0.9144 meter.

2.	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.

3.	yard-of-ale.

4.	Informal. a large quantity or extent.

5.	Slang. one hundred or, usually, one thousand dollars.

—Idiom

the whole nine yards, Informal.

a.	everything that is pertinent, appropriate, or available.

b.	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:
bef. 900; ME yerd(e), OE (Anglian) gerd orig., straight twig; c. D gard, G Gerte rod

yard

2 [yahrd]

–noun

1.	the ground that immediately adjoins or surrounds a house, public building, or other structure.

2.	an enclosed area outdoors, often paved and surrounded by or adjacent to a building; court.

3.	an outdoor enclosure designed for the exercise of students, inmates, etc.: a prison yard.

4.	an outdoor space surrounded by a group of buildings, as on a college campus.

5.	a pen or other enclosure for livestock.

6.	an enclosure within which any work or business is carried on (often used in combination): navy yard; a brickyard.

7.	an outside area used for storage, assembly, or the like.

8.	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.

9.	a piece of ground set aside for cultivation; garden; field.

10.	the winter pasture or browsing ground of moose and deer.

11.	the Yard, British. Scotland Yard (def. 2).

–verb (used with object)

12.	to put into, enclose, or store in a yard.

Origin:
bef. 900; ME yerd, OE geard enclosure; c. D gaard garden, ON garthr yard, Goth gards house, L hortus garden, OIr gort field; akin to garden

yard-of-ale

[yahrd-uh

v-eyl]

–noun

1.	a trumpet-shaped glass about 3 ft. (1 m) long with a bulb at the closed end, for serving ale or beer.

2.	the amount contained in such a glass.

Also called aleyard, yard.

Origin:
1885–90

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To yard

yard¹ (yärd)

Abbr. yd. A fundamental unit of length in both the U.S. Customary System and the British Imperial System, equal to 3 feet, or 36 inches (0.9144 meter). See Table at measurement.
Nautical A long tapering spar slung to a mast to support and spread the head of a square sail, lugsail, or lateen.

[Middle English yerde, stick, unit of measure, from Old English gerd.]

yard² (yärd)

A tract of ground next to, surrounding, or surrounded by a building or buildings.
A tract of ground, often enclosed, used for a specific business or activity.
An area where railroad trains are made up and cars are switched, stored, and serviced on tracks and sidings.
1. A winter pasture for deer or other grazing animals.
2. An enclosed tract of ground in which animals, such as chickens or pigs, are kept.

v.   yarded, yard·ing, yards

v.   tr.
To enclose, collect, or put into or as if into a yard.
v.   intr.
To be gathered into or as if into a yard.

[Middle English, from Old English geard; see gher-¹ in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Yard

Yard\, n. (Zo["o]l.) A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.

Yard

Yard\, n. [OE. yerd, AS. gierd, gyrd, a rod, stick, a measure, a yard; akin to OFries. ierde, OS. gerda, D. garde, G. gerte, OHG. gartia, gerta, gart, Icel. gaddr a goad, sting, Goth. gazds, and probably to L. hasta a spear. Cf. Gad, n., Gird, n., Gride, v. i., Hastate.]

1. A rod; a stick; a staff. [Obs.] --P. Plowman.

If men smote it with a yerde. --Chaucer.

2. A branch; a twig. [Obs.]

The bitter frosts with the sleet and rain Destroyed hath the green in every yerd. --Chaucer.

3. A long piece of timber, as a rafter, etc. [Obs.]

4. A measure of length, equaling three feet, or thirty-six inches, being the standard of English and American measure.

5. The penis.

6. (Naut.) A long piece of timber, nearly cylindrical, tapering toward the ends, and designed to support and extend a square sail. A yard is usually hung by the center to the mast. See Illust. of Ship.

Golden Yard, or Yard and Ell (Astron.), a popular name of the three stars in the belt of Orion.

Under yard [i. e., under the rod], under contract. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Yard

Yard\, n. [OE. yard, yerd, AS. geard; akin to OFries. garda garden, OS. gardo garden, gard yard, D. gaard garden, G. garten, OHG. garto garden, gari inclosure, Icel. gar[eth]r yard, house, Sw. g[*a]rd, Dan. gaard, Goth. gards a house, garda sheepfold, L. hortus garden, Gr. cho`rtos an inclosure. Cf. Court, Garden, Garth, Horticulture, Orchard.]

1. An inclosure; usually, a small inclosed place in front of, or around, a house or barn; as, a courtyard; a cowyard; a barnyard.

A yard . . . inclosed all about with sticks In which she had a cock, hight chanticleer. --Chaucer.

2. An inclosure within which any work or business is carried on; as, a dockyard; a shipyard.

Liberty of the yard, a liberty, granted to persons imprisoned for debt, of walking in the yard, or within any other limits prescribed by law, on their giving bond not to go beyond those limits.

Prison yard, an inclosure about a prison, or attached to it.

Yard grass (Bot.), a low-growing grass (Eleusine Indica) having digitate spikes. It is common in dooryards, and like places, especially in the Southern United States. Called also crab grass.

Yard of land. See Yardland.

Yard

Yard\, v. t. To confine (cattle) to the yard; to shut up, or keep, in a yard; as, to yard cows.

Language Translation for : yard

Spanish: yarda,

German: 9144 metres=das Yard,

Japanese: ヤード

More Translations »

yard (1)

"ground around a house," O.E. geard "enclosure, garden, court, house, yard," from P.Gmc. *garda (cf. O.N. garðr "enclosure, garden, yard;" O.Fris. garda, Du. gaard, O.H.G. garto, Ger. Garten "garden;" Goth. gards "house," garda "stall"), from PIE *gharto-, from base *gher- "to grasp, enclose" (cf. O.E. gyrdan "to gird," Skt. ghra- "house," Alb. garth "hedge," L. hortus "garden," Phrygian -gordum "town," Gk. khortos "pasture," O.Ir. gort "field," Bret. garz "enclosure, garden," and second element in L. cohors "enclosure, yard, company of soldiers, multitude"). Lith. gardas "pen, enclosure," O.C.S. gradu "town, city," and Rus. gorod, -grad "town, city" belong to this group, but linguists dispute whether they are independent developments or borrowings from Gmc. Yard sale is attested by 1976. M.E. yerd "yard-land" (c.1450) was a measure of about 30 acres. Yardbird "convict" is 1956, from the notion of prison yards; earlier it meant "basic trainee" (World War II armed forces slang).

yard (2)

"measure of length," O.E. gerd (Mercian), gierd (W.Saxon) "rod, stick, measure of length," from W.Gmc. *gazdijo, from P.Gmc. *gazdaz "stick, rod" (cf. O.S. gerda, O.Fris. ierde, Du. gard "rod;" O.H.G. garta, Ger. gerte "switch, twig," O.N. gaddr "spike, sting, nail"), from PIE *gherdh- "staff, pole" (cf. L. hasta "shaft, staff"). In O.E. it was originally a land measure of roughly 5 meters (a length later called rod, pole or perch). Modern measure of "three feet" is attested from 1377 (earlier rough equivalent was the ell of 45 inches, and the verge). In M.E., the word also was a euphemism for "penis" (cf. "Love's Labour's Lost," V.ii.676). Slang meaning "one hundred dollars" first attested 1926, Amer.Eng. Yardstick is 1816. The nautical yard-arm (1553) retains the original sense of "stick." In 19c. British naval custom, it was permissible to begin drinking when the sun was over the yard-arm.

Yard

Slang for one billion units in currency.

Investopedia Commentary

The term also refers to "milliard," which is a European term for 1,000 million (a billion).

If a person wanted to buy one billion U.S. dollars, he or she might say, "I would like to buy a yard of U.S. dollars." By using the word "yard" in place of "billion," the person ensures that the counter-party will not misunderstand billion for "million" or "trillion."

yard (yärd) Pronunciation Key
A unit of length in the US Customary System equal to 3 feet or 36 inches (0.91 meter). See Table at measurement.

yard

see all wool and a yard wide; in one's own back yard; whole nine yards.

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