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Yard

//jɑːd// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
Scotland Yard or New Scotland Yard
2
The Metropolitan Police Service figuratively, metonymically
3
Jamaica Jamaica

Noun

1
A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building.
"'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed."
2
A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).
"Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’[…].” So I started to back away again into the bushes. But I hadn't backed more'n a couple of yards when I see something so amazing that I couldn't help scooching down behind the bayberries and looking at it."
3
10⁹, A short scale billion; a long scale thousand millions or milliard.
"I need to hedge a yard of yen."
4
an enclosure for animals (as chicken or livestock) wordnet
5
The property surrounding one's house, typically dominated by one's lawn. Australia, Canada, US

Show 24 more definitions

6
A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).; Ellipsis of square yard, a unit of area; common with textiles. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
7
One hundred, usually referring to currency or money's worth. slang
"How much coke you want? Gimme a yard."
8
a long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen wordnet
9
An enclosed outdoors area designated for a specific purpose, e.g. on farms, railways etc.
"A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard."
10
A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).; Ellipsis of cubic yard, a unit of volume; common in mining and earthmoving. abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, informal
11
the enclosed land around a house or other building wordnet
12
A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.
13
Units of similar composition or length in other systems.
14
an area having a network of railway tracks and sidings for storage and maintenance of cars and engines wordnet
15
One’s house or home. Jamaica, Multicultural-London-English
"Man’s devilish cunt, tell me nutting about friends, that’s dead Cuz I run up in yards, No vest, tryna ching man’s chest And leave him dead"
16
Any spar carried aloft.
17
a tract of land enclosed for particular activities (sometimes paved and usually associated with buildings) wordnet
18
Any spar carried aloft.; A long tapered timber hung on a mast to which is bent a sail, and may be further qualified as a square, lateen, or lug yard. The first is hung at right angles to the mast, the last two hang obliquely.
19
a tract of land where logs are accumulated wordnet
20
A branch, twig, or shoot. obsolete
21
a unit of volume (as for sand or gravel) wordnet
22
A staff, rod, or stick. obsolete
23
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride wordnet
24
A penis. obsolete
"Loues her by the foot. Dum. He may not by the yard."
25
the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100 wordnet
26
100 dollars. US, slang, uncommon
27
The yardland, an obsolete English unit of land roughly understood as 30 acres. obsolete
"You must note, that two Fardells of Land make a Nooke of Land, and two Nookes make halfe a Yard of Land."
28
The rod, a surveying unit of (once) 15 or (now) 16+¹⁄₂ feet. obsolete
29
The rood, area bound by a square rod, ¹⁄₄ acre. obsolete

Verb

1
To confine to a yard. transitive
"As they reached the door, Bose, having yarded the cows, was stealing around the corner of the pig-sty, and making for the woods."
2
To move a yard at a time, as opposed to inching along. humorous, intransitive
"He inched his way up the corridor as if he would rather be yarding his way down it, which was true."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English yerd, yard, ȝerd, ȝeard, from Old English ġeard (“yard, garden, fence, enclosure”), from Proto-West Germanic *gard, from Proto-Germanic *gardaz (“enclosure, yard”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰórdʰos, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰerdʰ- (“to enclose”). See also North Frisian guard, Guart (“garden, yard”), Dutch gaard, gaarde (“garden, yard”), German Garten (“garden, yard”), Danish, Swedish gård (“farm, estate, land; court, yard”), Faroese, Icelandic garður (“garden; fence”), Norn gart (“farm”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk gard, gård (“farm; townhouse”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌳𐍃 (gards, “court, yard; house”), Lithuanian gardas (“pen, enclosure”), Russian го́род (górod, “town”), Serbo-Croatian, Slovene grad (“town”), Albanian gardh (“fence”), Romanian gard (“fence”), Avestan 𐬔𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬛𐬵𐬀 (gərədha, “dev's cave”), Sanskrit गृह (gṛha, “house, habitation, home, dwelling”)), Medieval Latin gardinus, jardinus (“garden, yard”). Doublet of garden, garth, and gord.

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Middle English ȝerde, yerd, ȝerd, from Old English ġierd (“branch; rod, staff; measuring stick; yardland”), from Proto-West Germanic *gaʀd, from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz. Cognate with Dutch gard (“twig”), German Gerte and probably related to Latin hasta (“spear”).

Etymology 4

Etymology 5

Clipping of milliard.

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