Churchyard
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A patch of land adjoining a church, often used as a graveyard.
"They said nothing further, but tramped on in the growing darkness, past farm steadings, into the little village, through the silent churchyard where generations of the Pallisers lay, and up the beech avenue that led to Northrop Hall."
- 2 the yard associated with a church wordnet
Example
More examples"The faster the mouse, the bigger the churchyard."
Etymology
From Middle English churchyard, chirch-ȝerd, chircheȝerd (also kirk-ȝerd, kirkeyard > English kirkyard), equivalent to church + yard. Compare also Middle English kurk-garth, kyrkgarth, kirrkegærd, from Old Norse kirkjugarðr (“churchyard; graveyard”). Replaced Middle English chirchetoun from Old English ċirictūn (churchtown).
Related phrases
More for "churchyard"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.