acre
(ˈeɪkə(r))
Forms: 1 (acer), æcer, æcyr; 2 æker; 2–7 aker; 5 akere, akyre, hakere; 5–6 akir; 6 acer; 4– acre. pl. acres: in 1 æceras, acras, 2–5 akres.
[OE. æcer, acer, cogn. w. Goth. akr-s, ON. akr, OSax. accar, OFris. ekker, OHG. achar; L. ager, Gr. ἀγρός; Skr. ajras plain; originally ‘open country, untenanted land, forest’; cf. Gr. ἄγριος, L. agrestis wild, ἀγρεύς a hunter, peragrāre to rove; then, with advance in the agricultural state, pasture land, tilled land, an enclosed or defined piece of land, a piece of land of definite size, a land measure. Very early adopted in med.L. and OFr. as acra, acre, whence the mod. spelling for the regular aker.]
1. a. A piece of tilled or arable land, a field. Obs. exc. in God's Acre [from mod.G.] a churchyard, and proper names as Long Acre.
| c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xii. 1 Eode se hælend þurh acras. c 1000 Ags. Gosp., ibid., Se Hælend fór ofyr æceras [MS. C. æcyras]. c 1160 Hatton Gosp., ibid., Se Hælend for ofer ækeres. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxvii. 8 Forþam is se æcer ᵹehaten Acheldemagh, þæt is..blodes æcyr. c 1160 Hatton Gosp., ibid., Forþam ys se aker ᵹehaten Acheldemach, þæt ys..blodes aker [Lindisf. & Rushw. lond blodes, blodes lond]. 1330 R. Brunne Chron. 115 Pople with alle þe recchesse, & akres, als þei wonnen, Þorgh þer douhtinesse, þe lond þorgh þei ronnen. c 1425 Wyntown Cron. viii. xxvi. 70 Ðe Mylnaris akyre it callyd wes, And men sayis, bath Hors and Man In þat-Akyre was lwgyd þan. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour f vj, A good man..named Nabot which had an Aker of a Vine yerd. 1635 N. Carpenter Geog. Delin. ii. x. 179 Some parcels of ground should as pastures bee diuided from Woody acres. a 1700 Dryden Ep., To Sir G. Etheredge 33 Spite of all these fable-makers, He never sow'd on Almain acres. 1844 Longfellow Misc. Poems, God's Acre, I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls The burial ground God's Acre!.. This is the field and Acre of our God, This is the place where human harvests grow. |
b. By modern writers the pl. acres is used rhetorically for lands, fields, landed estates. broad acres, extensive lands.
2. a. A definite measure of land, originally as much as a yoke of oxen could plough in a day; afterwards limited by statutes 5 Edw. I, 31 Edw. III, 24 Hen. VIII, to a piece 40 poles long by 4 broad (= 4840 sq. yds.), or its equivalent of any shape.
‘Normally, it was understood to consist of thirty-two furrows of the plough, a furlong in length.’ A. S. Ellis in N. & Q. 16 Sept. 1882, 230.
| c 1000 ælfric Dial. in OE. & Lat. (Thorpe Anal. 8) ælce dæᵹ ic sceal erian fulne æ cer oððe máre. 1038–44 Charter of Eadweard, Cod. Dipl. IV. 77 An mylen be doferware troce. & seofon æceras þarto. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 4, I have an half acre to erie. c 1420 Palladius on Husb. v. 15 Thre hors a yere an acre wel sufficeth. 1466 Manners & Househ. Exps. 326, I have ȝeven to John Hamondes wyffe iiij. hakeres of wete. 1494 Fabyan vii. ccxxii. 246 An acre conteyneth xl. perches in length, and iiii. in brede: & iiii. acres make a yerde, and v. yerdes make an hyde, and viij. hydes make a knyghtes fee, by the whiche reason, a knyghtes fee shuld welde clx. acres, & that is demed for a ploughe tyll in a yere. 1502 Arnold Chron. (1811) 173 Of what lengith soo euer they be, clx. perches make an akir. 1542 Recorde Grounde of Artes 208 (1575) A Rod of lande, whiche some call a roode, some a yarde lande, and some a Farthendele, 4 Farthendels make an Acre. 1581 Stafford Exam. of Compl. ii. 43 (1876) One Acer bearinge as much Corne as two most commonly were wont to do. 1602 Carew Cornwall 36 a, Commonly thirtie Acres make a farthing land, nine farthings a Cornish Acre, & foure Cornish Acres, a Knight's fee. 1610 Shakes. Temp. i. i. 70 Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren land. 1624 Capt. Smith Virginia iv. 126 English Wheat will yeeld but sixteene bushels an aker. 1669 J. W[orlidge] Syst. Agric. (1681) 321 An Acre is one hundred and sixty square Lug, or Pearch of Land, at sixteen foot and a half to the Perch; but of Coppice-wood eighteen foot to the Perch is the usual allowance. But an Acre sometimes is estimated by the proportion of Seed used on it; and so varies according to the Richness or sterility of the Land. 1691 Petty Pol. Anat. 52, 121 Irish Acres do make 196 English Statute Acres. 1790 Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. V. 212 Their estates were bound to the last acre. 1799 J. Robertson Agric. in Perth, A Scotch acre commonly = 6084 square yards. If the differences of inches were narrowly attended to in making the Scotch chain, a Scotch acre would be equal to 6150·7 square yards. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. ii. 248 He, for his acres few so duly paid, That yet more acres to his lot were laid. |
b. loosely in pl. Large quantities, a wide expanse.
| 1830 Gen. P. Thompson Exerc. (1842) I. 317 If the King wants a yacht, or Her Majesty's Grace would like a few acres of real lace. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. II. v. vi. 111 He..writes cunningly acres of despatches to Prince Eugene. |
† 3. As a lineal measure: an acre length, 40 poles or a furlong (i.e. furrow-length); an acre breadth, 4 poles or 22 yards. Obs. or dial.
| c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 971 Þe frensche men þai made reculle{revsc} wel an akers lengþe. Ibid. 2770 Þay dryuen hem aȝen an aker lengþe. c 1425 Wyntown Cron. vii. iv. 162 And fra it a spere wes drawyn..Large thre akyre leynth of Land. c 1440 Morte Arthure 3850 With þe lussche of þe launce he lyghte one hys schuldyrs, Ane akere lenghe one a launde, fulle lothely wondide. 1523 Fitzherbert Husb. (1534) C 2, xvi. fote and a halfe, to the perche or pole, foure perches to an acre in bredth, and fortye perches to an acre in lengthe. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. xiv. 14 The first slaughter that Ionathas and his wapen bearer dyd, was..with in the length of halue an aker of londe. [1611 An halfe acre of land. Marg. halfe a furrow of an acre of land.] a 1550 Christis Kirke of the Grene viii, Be ane aikerbraid it cam not neir him. 1601 Holland Pliny (1634) I. 117 The length of the very demy Island..is not aboue 87 miles and a halfe, and the breadth in no place lesse than two acres of land. c 1805 Wordsworth The Brothers (Chandos ed.) 31/2 What a feast. To see an acre's breadth of that wide cliff One roaring cataract! 1809 Bawdwen Domesday Bk. 326 Four Villanes have there one plough, and an acre of wood in length and one acre in breadth. |
4. Comb. acre-foot Irrigation, a unit of volume of water equal to one acre in area and one foot in depth; acre-land, obs., ploughed or arable land; acre-shot, obs., a payment or charge rated at so much per acre. Also acre-dale, acre-man, acre-staff, q.v.
| a 1400 Chron. Engl. in Ritson Met. Rom. II. 270 In thilke time, in al this londe, On aker-lond ther nes yfounde Ne toun ne houses never on Er then Bruyt from Troye com. 1479 R. Rokewoode in Bury Wills 53 (1850) Also an acre londe inclosed, late purchased of Water Dey. 1585 Act 27 Eliz. xxiv. §1. 3 Such of the said Sea-banks as are not maintained..at the charge of any Township or by Acre-shot or any other common charge. 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl., Acre-foot 1958 New Scientist 10 Apr. 8/1 It [the Kariba dam] will contain 140 million acre-feet of water. |
¶ acre (or acre-fight), explained by Cowel as ‘an old sort of duel fought by single combatants, English and Scotch, between the frontiers of their kingdoms, with sword and lance,’ seems to be merely transliterated by him from a med.L. phrase acram committere in the Annals of Burton 1237, where acram (for pugnam) is a bad translation of OE. camp combat, confused with L. campus, Fr. champ, and so with Eng. acre. From Cowel it has found its way into mod. Dicts., outside of which ‘to fight an acre’ or ‘acre-fight’ has no existence.