dunam
(ˈdʊnəm)
Also dunum.
[mod.Heb., f. Turkish dönüm.]
A measure of land, used esp. in Israel, equal to 1,000 sq. metres or about a quarter of an acre.
| 1920 Glasgow Herald 31 Dec. 8 The [Zionist] Commission has assisted in the planting and draining of 1600 duna[m]s of land. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 60 They plant a dunam of land for you. 1930 Economist 1 Nov. 796/2 An area of at least 130 ‘dunums’ is required in order to maintain an Arab peasant family. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night 23 In Khubeira they paid six pounds for the dunum and another five hundred to the Mukhtar. 1962 Economist 28 Apr. 345/2, 2½ million dunams (something over half a million acres) of land have been distributed [in Iraq]. 1971 L. Davidson Smith's Gazelle iii. 50 The 5,000 dunams, 1,250 acres, were basically suitable for a mixed sheep/wheat economy. |