▪ I. yard, n.1
(jɑːd)
Forms: 1 ᵹeard, 4–5 ȝerd(e, 4–6 ȝard(e, yerde, 4–8 yerd, 4–9 yaird, (4 ȝherd, 5 ȝeard, ȝord, yorde, 6 ȝharde, 7 yearde, 8 Sc. yeard), 5–6 ȝaird, 6–7 yarde, 3– yard.
[OE. ᵹeard str. masc. fence, dwelling, house, region = OS. gard enclosure, field, dwelling, MDu., Du. gaard garden, OHG. gart circle, ring, ON. garðr garth, (Sw. gård yard, Da. gard yard, farm), Goth. gards house, with corresp. wk. forms OFris. garda garden, OS. gardo, OHG. garto (MHG. garte, G. garten) garden, Goth. garda enclosure, stall. (OE. ᵹeard is the second element of middanᵹeard middenerd, ortᵹeard orchard, w{iacu}nᵹeard winyard.)
The ulterior relations of these words are uncertain. Close affinity of sense is exhibited by the words derived from the Teut. root gerd-: gard-: gurd-, represented by gird v.1 (OE. gyrdan, OHG. gurten, ON. gyrða) and girth n.1 (ON. gjǫrð, Goth. gairda), and those derived from an Indo-European root ghort-, viz. Gr. χόρτος farm-yard, feeding-place, food, fodder, L. hortus garden, co-hors enclosure, yard, pen for cattle and poultry, cohort, court, OIr. gort cornfield; but there are phonological difficulties in the way of equating both groups of words. (OSl. gradŭ enclosure, town, Russ. grad, gorod town, as in Petrograd, Novgorod, Lith. gàrdas hurdle, fold, are prob. borrowed from Teutonic.)
The general signification of the word is ‘enclosure’, the particular character of which is usually to be inferred from the context; the simple word is thus often felt to be short for a specific compound of it (see references in the various senses).]
1. a. A comparatively small uncultivated area attached to a house or other building or enclosed by it; esp. such an area surrounded by walls or buildings within the precincts of a house, castle, inn, etc. Cf. back-yard, castle yard, chapel yard, courtyard, inn-yard, palace yard, stable-yard.
In OE. used in sing. and pl. = dwelling, house, home, the ‘courts of heaven’; also, region, tract (cf. middanᵹeard middenerd).
| Beowulf 2459 Nis þær hearpan sweᵹ, ᵹomen in ᵹeardum. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 740 (Gr.) Wit..forleton on heofonrice heahᵹetimbro, godlice ᵹeardas. a 1000 Guthlac 763 (Gr.) Swa soðfæstra sawla motun in ecne ᵹeard up ᵹestiᵹan rodera rice. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xviii. (Egipciane) 571 To þe tempil men cane draw; & of It til in þe ȝarde I wes cummyne, I ne spard. c 1400 St. Alexius (Laud 108) 302 Alex..Is dweld in his fader ȝerd As a pore man. 1524 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 10 A litile howse with a yerde. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 100, I kepe doggis..in my yarde. 1565 in Hay Fleming Reform. Scotl. (1910) 613 Part of ane yard within the abbay place of Sanctandrois. a 1657 Sir J. Balfour Ann. Scot. Hist. Wks. 1825 II. 71 He was brought vpone a scaffold in the parliament yaird. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 121 ¶1 As I was walking..in the great Yard that belongs to my Friend's Country-House. a 1720 Sewel Hist. Quakers (1795) I. ii. 96 The steeple-house yard. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxv, I wandered from one quadrangle of old-fashioned buildings to another, and from thence to the College-yards, or walking ground. 1838 Lytton Alice v. iv, Four horses, that had been only fourteen miles, had just re-entered the yard. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes v, An old cathedral yard. Ibid. viii, A long row of small houses fronting on the street, and opening at the back upon a common yard. 1908 [Miss Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 20 The small yard between the stables. |
b. spec. † (
a) The ‘ground’ of a playhouse,
orig. an inn-yard; (
b)
Sc. pl. a school playground; (
c)
= court n.1 3 (
esp. in proper names, as
Carter's Yard,
Thompson's Yard in Oxford).
| 1609 Dekker Gull's Horn-bk. vi. 29 Neither are you to be hunted from thence though the Scar-crowes in the yard, hoot at you. 1808 Scott Autobiogr. in Lockhart (1839) I. 41, I made a brighter figure in the yards than in the class. 1815 ― Guy M. ii, Half the youthful mob of ‘the yards’ used to assemble..to see Dominie Sampson..descend the stairs from the Greek class. 1851 in Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) II. 211/1 Every Street, Lane, Square, Yard, Court, Alley, Passage, and Place..are to be thus cleansed. |
c. Contextually
= churchyard, grave-yard.
| [1617 Moryson Itin. i. 145 Not farre thence is a yard vsed for common buriall, called the holy field, vulgarly Campo Santo.] 1791 Burns There'll never be peace ii, And now I greet round their green beds in the yerd. 1836 [Hooton] Bilberry Thurland I. xi. 217 The road he had taken brought him at length to the church, through the yard of which it led. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. xxii, The little..church, its yard shaded with trees. |
d. An inclosure attached to a prison, in which the prisoners take exercise.
liberty of the yard (
U.S.): see
quot. 1828–32.
| 1777 Howard Prisons Eng. iii. 74 Why were not the walls of the yards repaired in time, that prisoners might with safety be allowed the proper use of them? 1828–32 Webster s.v. Yard, Liberty of the yard, is a liberty granted to persons imprisoned for debt, of walking in the yard, or within any other limits prescribed by law. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 438/1 This person..took me into the yard and stripped me. |
e. the Yard, short for ‘Scotland Yard’, the chief London police office.
| 1888 Gunter Mr. Potter xviii. 221 They're tired of paying your old master's salary up at the Yard. 1904 Sweeney At Scotland Yard ii, W. E. Monro..was one of the greatest public servants who ever worked at the Yard. |
f. U.S. A college campus or the area enclosed by its main buildings;
spec. at Harvard:
the Yard, the quadrangle formed by the original college buildings.
| 1637–9 Harvard Coll. Rec. in Publ. Colonial Soc. Mass. (1925) I. 172 Mr Nathaniel Eatons Account... The frame in the Colledge Yard & digging the cellar. 1841 Harvard Faculty Orders & Regul. 6 Collecting in groups round the doors of the College buildings or in the yard [shall be considered a violation of decorum]. 1871 L. H. Bagg Four Years at Yale 27 Besides the fourteen buildings already described, the only others within the yard..were the two wooden dwelling-houses. 1902 Boston Even. Record 18 Mar. 8/4 (heading) Out of the ‘Yard’—how the Harvard students have gone to the ‘Gold Coast’. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §829.12 Campus, camp, orchard,..yard. 1947 Harvard Alumni Bull. 12 Apr. 586/2 Few people have likely ever thought of the Yard as a bird sanctuary... What of the Yard? There must be bird records. 1970 ‘E. Queen’ Last Women in his Life iii. 163, I found out the truth about myself in my freshman year at Harvard... There was an episode in a bar, well away from the Yard. 1981 ‘D. Jordan’ Double Red xv. 71 Stumbling across the Yard..after too much Harvard Provision Co. gin. |
2. An inclosure forming a pen for cattle or poultry, a storing place for hay, or the like, belonging to a farm-house or surrounded by farm-buildings, or one in which a barn or similar building stands. (
Cf. barn-yard,
farm-yard,
poultry-yard.)
| c 1300 Havelok 702 Þe hennes of þe yerd. c 1386 Chaucer Nun's Pr. T. 27 A yeerd she hadde enclosed al aboute With stikkes and a drye dych with-oute In which she hadde a Cok. Ibid. 177 Oon of hem was logged in a stalle Fer in a yeerd with Oxen of the plough. 1481 Caxton Reynard v. (Arb.) 10, I [sc. chantecleer] had viij fayr sones and seuen fayr doughters whiche..wente in a yerde whiche was walled round a boute. 1551 N. Country Wills (Surtees 1908) 218 To Jhon Collin,..one lode of heye in my yarde. 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 58 All maner of strawe that is scattered in yard. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iii. xxv. 175 One of the Lyons leaped downe into a neighbours yard, where nothing regarding the crowing or noise of the Cocks, hee eat them up. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. ii. 766 His wanton Kids..Fight harmless Battels in his homely Yard. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones iv. viii, A vast herd of cows in a rich farmer's yard. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xv, A thriving farm with sleepy cows lying about the yard. |
3. A piece of inclosed ground of moderate size, often adjoining a house and covered with grass or planted with trees; a garden. Now chiefly
N. Amer. and
dial., a kitchen or cottage-garden (
cf. door-yard, kail-yard).
See also
grass-yard,
green-yard.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 1027 Paradis..es a yard cald o delites Wit all maner of suet spices. Ibid. 12522 He sent him to þe yerd..For to gedir þam sum cale. 1390 Gower Conf. II. 30 And after Phillis Philliberd This tre was cleped in the yerd. c 1400 Sc. Trojan War (Horstm.) i. 255 Ȝardes for herbys ande for virgerys. c 1440 Gesta Rom. xxvii. 111 (Add. MS.), He had a faire yerde [Harl. MS. gardin], that he mekell loved. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 537/2 Ȝerd, or ȝorde.., ortus. 1477 in Exch. Rolls Scot. IX. 101 note, Oure landis of Auld Lindoris with the brewlandis cotagiis and yairdis therof. 1536 Bellenden Cron. Scot. (1821) I. p. lvi, Aqua vite..maid..of sic naturall herbis as grew in thair awin yardis. 1589 R. Bruce Serm. v. (1590) T 2 b, Quhat Christ suffered for thame in the zarde [sc. Gethsemane], and on the crosse. 1718 in Nairne Peerage Evid. (1874) 33 Houses biggings yairds orchyairds. 1792 Burns Auld Rob Morris iii, My daddie has nought but a cot-house and yard. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. ix, Any of her apple-trees or cabbages which she had left rooted in the ‘yard’ at Woodend. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Yard, the garden belonging to a cottage or ordinary messuage. 1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. 88 Striped grass, cultivated in yards at the north. 1877 H. G. Murray Tom Kittle's Wake 21 My daughter, Molly tief pass, maam, den go da him yard. 1889 M. E. Wilkins Far Away Melody etc. (1891) 11 Four..old apple-trees, which stood promiscuously about the yard back of the Cottage. 1907 W. Jekyll Jamaican Song & Story 163 The immediate surroundings of the house are called the yard. They seldom speak of going to a friend's house. They say they are going to his yard. 1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song 97 The berries hung ripe in the yard of the gardener Galt. 1947 J. A. Lomax Adventures Ballad Hunter vii. 185 She says, ‘Can you cut yards?’ an' I says, ‘Yes ma'am.’ She says, ‘Go roun,..to de back.., you'll find a lawn-mower there, and then begin cuttin'.’ 1956 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay iv. 55 The village was almost entirely self-supporting, most families living on what they grew or reared on their yards or allotments. 1980 W. Maxwell So Long, see you Tomorrow (1981) ii. 22 The rented house had no yard to speak of. |
4. a. An inclosure set apart for the growing, rearing, breeding, or storing of something or the carrying on of some work or business.
Cf. brickyard,
dockyard,
dung-yard,
hemp-yard,
orchard (
OE. ortᵹeard),
shipyard,
tan-yard,
vineyard,
† winyard (
OE. w{iacu}nᵹeard).
| 1378 [see hemp-yard s.v. hemp n. 6 b]. 1520 Perth Hammermen Bk. (1889) 15 Ressavit fra John Kynloch of this yeres excrestes of the yairds. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. xvi. 7/2 Great leuers..the whiche they founde in a carpenters yarde. 1555 Act 2 & 3 Phil. & Mary c. 16 §7 Before the said Boate..bee lanched out of the Yarde or Grounde wherin the same Boate..shall fortune to bee made. a 1610 Healey Theophrastus (1636) 23 He hath a little yard, gravelled fit for wrestling. 1696 Cal. St. Pap., Dom. 282 The porter, master-caulker and ‘teamer’ of Deptford Yard. 1748 Anson's Voy. ii. vi. 200 A ship-carpenter in the yard at Portsmouth. 1803 Pering in Naval Chron. XV. 61 The yard is paid quarterly. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, River, What can be more amusing than Searle's yard on a fine Sunday morning? 1837 ― Pickw. ii, ‘What's Mr. Smithie?’ inquired Mr. Tracy Tupman. ‘Something in the yard [= the Dockyard]’, replied the stranger. 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 191 Eggs from the Yards of Mr. Punchard. 1873 G. S. Baden-Powell New Homes 194 The ‘yards’..are usually situated near the head station. 1891 W. K. Brooks Oyster 131 Around each claire is built a levee or dirt wall called a yard... This yard retains the water filling the basin. |
b. The piece of ground adjacent to a railway station or terminus, used for making up trains, storing rolling-stock, etc.; also an inclosure in which cabs, trams, etc. are kept when not in use.
| 1827 [see wagon-yard s.v. wagon n. 13]. 1837 Dickens Pickw. ii, A..young man,.. emerging suddenly from the coach yard. 1894 Daily News 18 May 5/4 Yesterday his cabs were still in the yard. 1903 Westm. Gaz. 8 Jan. 7/3 The yard foreman knows the capacity of each of the engines he sends out from his yard. |
c. the Yards, the stockyards where cattle are collected for slaughter,
esp. in Chicago.
U.S.| 1865 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 83/2 The average weekly expenditure by butchers at the New York yards during the year 1863 was $328,865. 1906 U. Sinclair Jungle xv. 170 Already the yards were full of activity. 1935 A. G. Macdonell Visit to America vii. 114 As in Chicago, the pride of Omaha is the Stock-yards... I was looking straight down into the Yards. 1974 ‘M. Allen’ Super Tour ii. 57 I've been called all kinds of things ever since I was a kid back of the Yards. |
5. U.S. and
Canada. An area in which moose and deer congregate,
esp. during the winter months.
| 1829 Haliburton Nova-Scotia II. ix. 392 In winter they [sc. moose] form herds, and when the snow is deep, they describe a circle, and press the snow with their feet, until it becomes hard, which is called by hunters a yard, or pen. 1864–5 Wood Homes without H. 614 So confident is the Elk in the security of the ‘yard’, that it can scarcely ever be induced to leave its snowy fortification. 1884 Science 28 Mar. 394/1 Immense yards, containing hundreds of deer, existed along the various tributaries [of the Ottawa]. 1903 Longman's Mag. July 248 [They] never failed to destroy a ‘yard’ to the last fawn. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. (
a) in sense 1, as
yard-broom,
yard door,
yard gate,
yard wall;
yard-dog, a watchdog kept in the yard of a house or dwelling; (
b) in sense 2, as
yard-bar,
yard-dung,
yard-liquor,
yard-pond,
yard-room;
† (
c) in sense 3 (
Sc. and
U.S.), as
yard door,
yard end,
yard house,
yard tack;
yard-boy, a general labourer; a gardener or gardener's boy (
obs. exc. Caribbean);
† yard-dike, a garden wall;
yard-grass, a low annual grass,
Eleusine indica, common in ‘yards’ about houses in parts of
U.S.A.; also
Cynodon Dactylon;
yard sale U.S., a sale of miscellaneous second-hand items held in the garden of a private house; (
d) in sense 4, 4 b,
esp. relating to dockyards, ship-yards, cab yards, or railway yards, as
yard clerk,
yard craft,
yard-keeper,
yard-lighter,
yard-master;
yard-money, fees payable by hirers of cabs from cab-owners to stablemen, etc. on returning them to the yard.
| (a) 1580 in Archaeologia LXIV. 358 To mak and hang a yard dor at the nether end of the turrit at the bridg. 1795 Haighton in Phil. Trans. LXXXV. 197, I kept this animal nineteen months, during the greatest part of which he performed the office of a yard dog. 1823 Scott Quentin D. Introd. (init.), Trusty, the yard-dog. 1857 Kingsley Two Yrs. Ago iii, Lofty garden and yard walls of grey stone. 1865 ― Herew. xix, Let me and my serving-man go free out of thy yard gate. 1905 A. C. Benson Thread of Gold ii, A big black yard-dog. 1908 [Miss Fowler] Betw. Trent & Ancholme 29 Near the yard doors. 1921 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 195/1 Dip an old yard⁓broom in a bucket of water. 1982 J. Scott Local Lads iii. 32 Billy took up an aged, patchily moulted yardbroom. |
| (b) 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 119 Some barnroome haue little, and yardroome as much. 1744 W. Ellis Mod. Husb. Jan. xi. 73 He may now carry out his Stable or Yard Dung. 1764 Museum Rusticum II. i. 3 When I make use of yard dung, I take care it is very rotten. 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 23 It is better management to prevent, than either to waste or cart-out a superfluity of Yard-liquor. 1827 Clare Sheph. Cal. 20 While ducks and geese..Plunge in the yard-pond brimming o'er. 1869 Mrs. Whitney Hitherto xi, The lowing of cattle at their yard-bars. |
| (c) 1473 Rental Bk. Cupar-Angus (1879) I. 189 He sal put bath husband tak and ȝard tak til al possibil polyci. 1505 Ibid. 260 Biggind of gud ȝerd hous, sufficiand chawmeris and stabulis to resaue and herbry..xij or xvj hors. 1532 Abst. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897) IV. 57 The rademyng and lowsing of twa riggis of land, lyand at his yard end. 1595 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 132/2 Up the saidis Alesteris eist yaird-dyk to the mairch of Galdwalmoir. 1691 Jedburgh Counc. Rec. 19 Mar. (MS.), For his wrongous..awaytakeing of certaine stones out of the minister's yeard dyke at his awn hand. 1788 J. Woodforde Diary 7 Jan. (1927) III. 2 To my Yard Boy, Charles Crossley, for 3 Quarters of a Years Wages pd 0. 15. 9. 1809 A. Henry Trav. 79 Behind the yard-door of my own house,..there was a low fence. 1822 J. Woods Two Yrs.' Resid. Illinois 199 Yard-grass comes on land that has been much trodden; it is something like cock's-foot-grass, except the seed. 1831 C. Farquharson Jrnl. 2 Dec. in Relic of Slavery (1957) 47 Employed all hands weeding..along with the yard boys. 1848 Schomburgk Hist. Barbados 586 Cynodon dactylon. Devil's Grass. Bahama, or Yard Grass. 1907 A. Lang Hist. Scot. IV. xvi. 392 A minister's yard dyke, or garden wall, was overthrown. 1958 S. Selvon Turn again Tiger viii. 185, I take the worst job that was going—as a kind of yard-boy by the white people house. 1975 New Rev. May 10/2 In and around Port of Spain cooks, ironers and yardboys in attendance. 1976 Flint (Michigan) Jrnl. 12 July c–5 Yard sale—1508 Webber canning jars, screen tent, patterns, books, [etc.]. 1982 M. McMullen Until Death do us Part (1983) vii. 46 There was a yard sale down our street. |
| (d) a 1647 Pette in Archaeologia (1796) XII. 266 Those businesses, which were put out by the great to divers yard-keepers. 1737 J. Chamberlayne's St. Gt. Brit. (ed. 33) ii. 87 Yard-keeper and Fire-maker. 1804 Naval Chron. XII. 504 Six Gun-vessels and Yard-lighters. 1861 (16 Apr.) in Orders of Council Naval Service (1904) II. 29 Pensions..granted to the Riggers employed in Your Majesty's Dock⁓yards, and the Seamen belonging to the Yard Craft. 1864 Rep. Children's Employment Comm. 139/1 in Parl. Papers XXII. 487/1 Mr Thomas Wheat, yard⁓master... My duty is to give orders..and manage the work. 1883 Simmonds Dict. Trade Suppl., Yard Clerk, one who has the overlooking of the yard of a brewery, builder, etc. 1884 Bath Jrnl. 26 July 7/3 On returning to the yard at night he has to stump up ten shillings more, plus a mysterious fee of two shillings called ‘yard money’. 1889 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 9 Apr. 3/4 [A] yardmaster at Brattleboro' had one leg cut off by a switching train. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 93 The brakesman was standing by to couple the cars that the yard engine was backing down on to the rest of the train. 1898 Engineering Mag. XVI. 67 The ordinary yard-handling of, say, an army corps. |
Add:
[1.] g. W. Indies. Also
yaad. A dwelling or house (including the land attached); also, a property composed of many rented dwelling units consisting of independent structures with shared toilet facilities (a
tenant yard) or forming part of multi-family buildings (typical of a
government yard); hence amongst expatriate Jamaicans: Jamaica, ‘home’.
| 1877 H. G. Murray in Cassidy & Le Page Dict. Jamaican Eng. (1967) 485/1 My daughter, Molly tief pass, maam, den go da him yard. 1907 W. Jekyll Jamaican Song & Story lvii. 163 The immediate surroundings of the house are called the yard. They seldom speak of going to a friend's house. They say they are going to his yard. 1950 L. Bennett et al. Anancy Stories & Dial. Verse 71 Me gat tree pickney an dem mumma up a yard. 1956 in Cassidy & Le Page Dict. Jamaican Eng. (1967) 485/1 Wi kyan go a mis mieri yaad: We can go to Miss Mary's place. 1974 New York 4 Nov. 73/1 Alton has been on the hit parade down in Yard..ever since his first smash in 1959. 1976 J. Berry Bluefoot Traveller (1977) 27 No mood can touch one Mango season back at Yard. 1988 Washington Post 4 Sept. (Book World section) x14/4 The Pamela Mordecai anthology of Jamaican poetry since independence is titled From Our Yard.., but 11 of the 28 poets live somewhere else. |
▪ II. yard, n.2 (
jɑːd)
Forms: 1
ᵹyrd,
ᵹerd, (
ierd), 1–2
ᵹird, 3–6
ȝerd(e,
yerd(e, 4–5
ȝarde, 4–7
yarde, (3
ȝerrde,
ȝeord,
yeorde,
yherde, 4
ȝierd(e,
ȝeird,
yeird,
ȝeerde,
ȝurde, 5
ȝearde,
ȝherde,
yeerde,
yerede, 6
yerdde), 5–7
yeard(e, (9
Sc. yaird), 5–
yard.
[OE. *ᵹierd, ᵹyrd, ᵹird, Angl. ᵹerd = OFris. ierde (EFris. jœd), OS. -gerda (in segalgerda sailyard), MLG. gerde, MDu. gherde, garde, Du. garde, gard, OHG. *gartja, gardea, gerta, MHG., G. gerte, generally taken to represent OTeut. *gazdjō, deriv. of *gazdaz (whence OE. ᵹeard?, MLG. gaert, OHG. gart, ON. gaddr gad n.1, Goth. gazds prickle), prob. related to L. hasta (:—*ghazdhā) spear, OIr. gat rod. Some, however, regard the
r in this word as original and connect it with
OSl. žrŭdĭ,
Russ. zherd{p} thin pole.]
† 1. a. A straight slender shoot or branch of a tree; a twig, stick.
Obs.| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xi. 7 Ᵹerd..from uinde styrende [arundinem uento agitatum]. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 8 Seo driᵹe ᵹyrd, þe næs on eorðan aplantod,..and swa-ðeah greow. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 510 A gret ok he wolde braide adoun as it a smal ȝerd were. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. met. ii. (1868) 68 Þe ȝerde of a tree þat is haled adoun by myȝty strengþe bowiþ redely þe croppe adoun. a 1425 Cursor M. 5614 (Trin.) A cofur of ȝerdes dud she be wrouȝt. c 1425 Engl. Conq. Irel. 30 Thay arered a dyche, & a feble castel vpon, of yardes and turues. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 221 A branche of palme of paradyse of þe wheche þe ȝearde was grene as gresse. |
† b. fig. in reference to Isaiah xi. 1:
cf. rod n.1 1 b.
Obs.| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 217 An ȝerd sal spruten of iesse more. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 57/169 Heil þou ȝerde of Iesse. a 1400 Leg. Rood (1871) 212 Þou seydest a ȝerd schulde sprynge Oute of þe rote of Ientill Iesse. 1450–1530 Myrr. our Ladye ii. 172. |
† c. In reference to taking or surrendering land,
esp. in
phr. by the yard (law-Fr.
per le virge): see
quots. and
cf. rod n.1 1 c.
Obs.| 1523 Fitzherb. Surv. 13 b, There be other tenantes by copy of court role, and is called tenauntes per le virge .s. by the yerde. And they be called so bycause whan they wolde surrendre their tenementes in to the lordes handes to the vse of another, they shall haue a lytell yerde in his hande by custome of the courte, and that he shall delyuer vnto the stewarde. 1559 Bk. Presidentes 48 b, How the copy should be made of landes holden by the yarde. |
† d. Used typically of a thing of no value.
| c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 9660 He ȝeues of hem not a ȝerd. |
† 2. a. A staff or stick carried in the hand as a walking stick, or by a shepherd or herdsman.
Obs.| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. x. 10 Næbbe ᵹe gold..ne codd on weᵹe ne twa tunecan ne ᵹe-scy ne ᵹyrde [Lindisf. ᵹerd; Rushw. ierde]. c 1000 ælfric Num. xvii. 10 Ber Aarones ᵹirde in to þam ᵹetelde. c 1250 Gen. & Exod. 2987 He smot wið ðat ȝerde on ðe lond. a 1300 Cursor M. 5894 Þan tok aaron þis ilk yeird, And on þe flore he kest it don. a 1400 Leg. Rood (1871) 141 Þe heerdes ȝerde. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour lxxv, The yerde wherewith Moyses departed the see. 1538 Bale Thre Lawes (facs.) B v, For horse take Moyses yearde, There is no better charme. |
† b. (Also
golden yard;
cf. yard-band in sense 13, and
ell-wand.) The Belt of Orion.
Obs.| 1551 [see golden a. 10]. 1651 Loves of Hero & Leander (1653) 23 The Yard, Orion, and Charles Wain. |
† 3. a. A stick or rod used as an instrument for administering strokes by way of punishment or otherwise.
Obs.| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 290 Ᵹenim ane ᵹirde, sleah on þæt bæc þonne biþ þæt hors hal. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 243 Þu ahst to habben..Stede and twei sporen and ane smearte ȝerd. c 1205 Lay. 20318 Ofte me hine smæt mid smærte ȝerden [c 1275 ȝerdes]. a 1250 Prov. ælfred 451 in O.E. Misc. 130 Þe mon þe spareþ yeorde and yonge childe. a 1250 Owl & Night. 777 Hit [sc. a horse]..þoleþ boþe ȝerd & spure. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1427 Tristith wele that I Wole be her champioun with spore and yerd. a 1400 Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS. 537 Ȝif þi child be not a-fert, Ȝif him i-nouh of þe ȝerd. 1430–40 Lydg. Bochas (1554) Prol. xxviii, His yard of castigacion. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 40 He made hys confessour bete hym wyth a ȝarde apon þe backe al bare, as a chyld ys beten yn scole. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun (1888) 5 The payens bett him with scourgis & with scharp ȝerds eke. |
† b. fig. A means or instrument of punishment; hence, punishment, chastisement.
Obs.| a 1225 Ancr. R. 184 Þench ȝet þet hwose euer hermeð þe,..þench þet he is Godes ȝerd, & tet God bet þe mide him. Ibid. 324 Ase ofte ase þe hund of helle keccheð ei god from þe, smit him anonriht mid te ȝerde of tunge schrifte. 1389 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 95 Qwo-so make any noyse..and þe den comaunde him to ben stille, and he ne wil nouth, scal taken him þe ȝerde. c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle i. xxii. (1859) 24 Tretyng with yerd of loue, and discipline. c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. ii. 424 He thretened hem that he wolde come to hem in ȝerde, that is to seie, in peyne. c 1530 Crt. Love 363, I shall..meekly take her chastisement and yerd. |
† 4. A wand, rod, or staff carried as a symbol of office, authority, etc.; hence in
fig. phr. under the yard, under (the) rule or discipline (of).
Obs.| c 1205 Lay. 22480 He bar on his honde ænne mucle ȝeord of golde. c 1275 Passion our Lord 382 in O.E. Misc. 48 Seþþe hi nomen a red cloþ and duden him a-bute And one yerd on his hond. 13.. Seuyn Sag. (W.) 142 Dioclician the maistres herde, He strok his berd, and schok his yerde. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's Prol. 22 Hoost quod he I am vnder youre yerde Ye han of vs as now the gouernance. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 813 Þen was him geuyn vp þe ȝerde & ȝolden þe rewme. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 537/2 Ȝerde, borne a-forne a worthyman. c 1470 Harding Chron. ccxxii. iv, Compleyntes..Refourmed were well vnder his yerd egall. |
5. Naut. A wooden (or steel) spar, comparatively long and slender, slung at its centre from, and forward of, a mast and serving to support and extend a square sail which is bent to it.
(See also
jackyard,
mizen-yard,
sailyard, topgallant-
yard.)
| c 725–c 1440 [see sailyard 1]. 1336–7 [see yard-rope]. 1465 Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 199 My mastyr paid for the yerde [of the said ship]. 1591 Harington Orl. Fur. xli. xvii, At last with striuing, yard and all was torne, And part therof into the sea was borne. 1624 Capt. J. Smith Virginia iii. xii. 90 Some [ships] lost their Masts, some their Sayles blowne from their Yards. 1633 T. James Voy. 19 We put abroad all the sayle that was at yards. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 21 The Sails were almost always splitting and blowing from the Yards. 1814 Scott Ld. of Isles iii. xii, Fain to strike the galley's yard, And take them to the oar. 1853 Dickens Bleak Ho. i, Fog lying out on the yards, and hovering in the rigging of great ships. 1868 Morris Earthly Par. Prol. (1870) I. 26 We saw the yards swing creaking round the mast. |
† 6. A straight rod or bar used in various connexions (see
quots.).
Obs.| a 1490 Botoner Itin. (1778) 260 The yerdys called sparres of the halle ryalle. 1538 Elyot, Radius,..a rodde or yerde, that Geometricians haue to describe lynes. 1594 Blundevil Exerc., Navig. xii. (1597) 322 b, In vsing M. Hoods staffe they shall..need..onely to marke vpon what degree of the yarde the shadow of the Vane streeketh. |
† 7. A measuring-rod;
spec. a measuring-rod or -stick of the length of three feet; a yard-measure.
See also
cloth-yard,
ell-yard (
ell1 5),
meteyard (
OE. meteᵹyrd),
tailor's yard (
tailor n. 6 b).
| c 1000–1050 Instit. Pol. xii. [vii.] (Liebermann 478) And riht is, þæt ne beo æniᵹ meteᵹyrd [Quadripartitus mensuralis uirga] lengre þonne oðer. c 1430 Met yerde [see meteyard]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 537/2 Ȝerde, metwande, ulna. 1557 North Gueuara's Diall Princes Gen. Prol. A ij, By the yarde the marchaunte measureth al his war. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. x. (1674) 13 He had a very just yard at home. a 1658 Cleveland London Lady 81 The Heroes of the Yard have shut Their Shops. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. v, If they offered to come into the warehouse, then strait went the yard slap over their noddle. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 116 ¶7, I was..bound to a haberdasher... I learned in a few weeks to handle a yard with great dexterity. |
8. A unit of linear measure equal to 16½ feet or 5½ yards (but varying locally); a rod, pole, or perch. Now
local.
Sometimes
spec. distinguished as
land-yard.
| 900 in Earle Land-Charters (1888) 351, xvi. ᵹyrda gauoltininga. 901–9 in Thorpe Dipl. Angl. ævi Sax. (1865) 156 Ðæs landes be suðan ðære cirican..xxiiii. ᵹerda on lange & on bræde ðar hit bradest is fif ᵹeurda, & ðær hit unbradost is anne ᵹeurde. 11.. Textus Roffensis in Birch Cart. Sax. III. 659 To wercene þa land peran & þreo ᵹyrda to þillianæ [L. tres virgatas plancas ponere]. c 1330 Arth. & Merl. 1449 Her vnder is a ȝerde depe A water. 1828 [see land-yard s.v. land n.1 12]. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade s.v., As a linear measure, the yard varies considerably in different parts of the kingdom; at Hertford the land-yard is 3 feet; at Saltash, 16½ feet; at Falmouth and Bridgend 18 feet; and at Dowspatrick, 21 feet. 1886 Elworthy W. Som. Word-bk., Yard, a measure of five and a half yards (16½ feet) both long and square, i.e. the same as a rod, pole, or perch. |
9. a. A measure of length (traditionally the standard unit of English long measure) equal to three feet or thirty-six inches. (See
quot. 1867.) Also the corresponding measure of area (
square yard = 9 square feet) or of solidity (
cubic yard = 27 cubic feet).
The earlier standard was the ell
= 45 inches (
ulna in
Stat. de Pistoribus, 13th
cent.); this was succeeded by the
verge (1353) Act 27
Edw. III, stat. 2, c. 10), of which
yard is the English equivalent.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 214 Thanne drowe I me amonges draperes my donet to lerne,..Amonge þe riche rayes I rendred a lessoun, To broche hem with a pak-nedle..And put hem in a presse and pynned hem þerinne, Tyl ten ȝerdes or twelue hadde tolled out threttene. 1426–7 Rec. St. Mary at Hill 64 For v ȝerdis and a half of grene bokeram iij s. iij d. 1496–7 Ibid. 32 An Awlter cloth..conteynyng in lengthe iij yardes di. 1518 Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 152 A gowne of vi brode yardes at vjs the yard xxxvjs. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. i. iii. 46, I am in the waste two yards about. 1617 J. Taylor (Water P.) Three Weekes Observ. E 4 b, I bought..a yard and halfe of pudding for fiue pence. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 78 One hundred of Lathes will cover six yards of seeling, and lathing is worth six pence the yard. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (1786) IV. 43 Sir James could obtain but 40s. a yard square for the cupola of St. Paul's. 1825 Scott Betrothed vii, Sir Cook, let me have half a yard or so of broiled beef. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, Seven-Dials, When penny magazines shall have superseded penny yards of song. 1848 ― Dombey xxxv, Mrs. Perch..has made the tour of the establishment, and priced the silks and damasks by the yard. 1867 Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §407 The British standard of length is the Imperial Yard, defined as the distance between two marks on a certain metallic bar, preserved in the Tower of London, when the whole has a temperature of 60° Fahrenheit. 1896 Law Times Rep. LXXIII. 615/1 The railway line..was perfectly straight for a distance of over 700 yards. |
| fig. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. iv. 27–31 We imagine God to be lyke our selues, & we measure him by our owne yard. a 1626 Bacon (J.), A peer, a counsellor, and a judge are not to be measured by the common yard. |
b. Vaguely, hyperbolically, or
fig.;
phr. by the yard, at great length, without end; also, of books or paintings: bought by quantity or size rather than for quality.
| c 1386 Chaucer Knt.'s T. 192 Hir yelow heer was broyded in a tresse Bihynde hir bak a yerde long. 1842 Tennyson Godiva 19 His beard a foot before him, and his hair A yard behind. a 1843 Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. Ser. ii. (1849) 209 Latinisms,—yard-and-half-long words. 1845 J. W. Turner Razor Strop Man 3 He was spinning poetical rhyme by the yard; Had Shakespear been living 'twould astonish'd the bard. 1853 ‘C. Bede’ Verdant Green, i. viii, Spit us out a yard or two more, Gig⁓lamps. 1869 ‘Wat Bradwood’ The O.V.H. v, He..could talk by the yard of what little he did know. 1881 H. James Jun. Portr. Lady xlii, He had a face a yard long; I wondered what ailed him. 1900 E. Glyn Visits Elizabeth (1906) 117, I danced it with some idiot who almost at once let yards and yards of my gauze frills get torn. 1933 J. Betjeman Ghastly Good Taste i. 12 The old books..can be sold..by the yard to America as wall decoration. 1976 ‘O. Bleeck’ No Questions Asked ii. 29 He bought fine paintings by the yard and rare books by the case. |
c. Phr.
yard of ale, etc., a deep slender glass for liquor, or the amount of liquor contained in it.
yard of clay (
clay yard), a long clay tobacco-pipe.
yard of satin (slang), a glass of gin (see
satin n. 4).
yard of tin, a coachman's horn.
| [1828 W. T. Moncrieff Tom & Jerry iii. vi, Log. The haberdasher is..the spirit-merchant,..and tape the commodity he deals in..white is Max, and red is Cognac. Jerry. Then give me a yard and a half of red.] 1842 Punch II. 23 His Highness condescendingly indulged in a pot of half-and-half and a yard of clay. 1866 Lond. Misc. 19 May 235/2 The stolidity of a mynheer smoking his clay yard. 1872 N. & Q. 4th Ser. X. 49 At the annual Vinis, or feast, of the mock corporation of Hanley (Staffordshire), the initiation of each member, in 1783, consisted in his swearing fealty to the body, and drinking a yard of wine—i.e., a pint of port or sherry out of a glass one yard in length. 1899 Ibid. 9th Ser. III. 97/1 The (disused and probably illegal) ‘yard’ of ale. This is a measure a yard long, holding, I should fancy, more than a pint. 1902 Tatler 8 Jan. 52 A ‘Yard of Ale’ Glass. It is 38 in. high and contains two pints of ale. 1903 C. G. Harper Stage-Coach & Mail I. xii. 279 That instrument [sc. the key-bugle] came over from Germany in 1818, and for a time pretty thoroughly displaced the old ‘yard of tin’ the earlier guards had blown so lustily. |
d. In Building:
yard of lime,
mortar,
stone, etc.: see
quots.| 1851 Laxton Builder's Price Bk. 9, 27 cubic feet, or 1 cubic yard, contains 21 striked bushels, which is considered a single load. Ibid. 12 A rod of brickwork requires 1½ cubic yard of chalk lime, and 3 single loads or yards of drift. 1881 Dict. Archit. VI. 84/2 A standard perch being taken as 21 ft. (or 16½ ft.) long, 18 ins. high, and 12 ins. thick. This is about ‘a yard of stone’, or a ton, or a horse-load. 1892 Ibid. VIII, Yard of Lime; or load. In 1750 it was equal to 30 or 32 bushels. |
10. a. In full
yard of land (
OE. ᵹyrd landes = L.
virgata terræ): An area of land of varying extent according to the locality, but most
freq. 30 acres: commonly taken as
= a fourth of a hide. See also
yardland.
| 688–95 Laws Ine cxi. (Liebermann), Ᵹif mon ᵹeþingað ᵹyrde landes [Quadripartitus uirgata terre] oþþe mare to rædeᵹafole & ᵹeereð, ᵹif se hlaford him wile þæt land aræran to weorce & to ᵹafole, ne þearf he him onfon, ᵹif he him nan botl ne selð, & þolie þara æcra. 937 in Earle LandCharters (1888) 322 Þis synd þære anre ᵹyrde landᵹemæro æt æschyrste þe ᵹebyrað into þære hyde æt toppeshamme. 978–992 Charter of Oswald in Kemble Cod. Dipl. III. 263 Landes sumne dæl ðæt syndon .iii. hida æt Bradingcotan and an ᵹyrd æt Genenofre. a 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 1085 (Laud MS.) Swa swyðe nearwelice he hit lett ut aspyrian, þæt næs an ælpiᵹ hide ne an ᵹyrde landes..þæt næs ᵹesæt on his ᵹewrite. 14.. Tretyce in W. of Henley's Husb. (1890) 44, iiij acres makithe a yerde of londe and v yerdis makithe a hyde off lande. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 559 A Charter..confermyng to ser Iohn Trillawe..and to Edmond Mabaunke, v. mesis, viij. yerdis of lond. 1534 Star Chamber Cases (Selden Soc.) II. 307 Seased..of and in a messe half a yard of land a closse called Grymes closse..in thyngden. 1567 in F. J. Baigent Rec. Crondal (1891) 163 One yarde of customary lande,..graunted to and with the said messuage or messuages. 1618 Crt.-roll Gt. Waltham Manor, Ad tres rodas prati, parcellam de Alizaunder's yardland,..et ad unam croftam terre..parcell. unius virgate terre vocat. Alisaunder's yarde. |
b. An area of land of the extent of a quarter of an acre, being, theoretically, a strip of land bounded by a ‘yard’ (sense 8) and a furlong,
i.e. 5½ × 220 yards; a rood.
| c 1450 Godstow Reg. 290, v acris and a yerd of his arable lond. 1613 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., One acer of land and iij yeardes & viij pearches. 1726 in W. Wing Ann. Steeple Aston (1875) 54 Fourth part of an acre of meadow ground, called a yerd. 1893 M. H. A. Stapleton Three Oxf. Parishes 309 A yard is a fourth part of a lot..An acre is a lot. |
† 11. a. The virile member, penis; also
= phallus 1. (So L.
virga.)
Obs.| 1379 Glouc. Cath. MS. 19 No. I, lib. 1, ca. 3, fo. 5 [The urine] passith out by the ȝerde. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xvii. 11 Ȝe shulen circumside the flehs of the ferthermore parti of ȝoure ȝeerde. a 1425 tr. Arderne's Treat. Fistula, etc. 92, I haue oft tyme sene puluis grecus for to availe in þe cancre of a mannez ȝerde. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 676. 1607 Markham Caval. i. (1617) 23 You must haue care that your Stallyons yarde be all of one colour. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage vi. iv. 479 This yard, which they called Phallus, was vsually made of Figge-tree. 1693 Wood Life (O.H.S.) III. 420 A monstrous child..It hath three yards and he makes use of them all at once. 1748 tr. Vegetius Renatus' Distemp. Horses 87 His Yard drops Matter. 1884 J. Payne Tales fr. Arabic I. 30 Aboulhusn..abode naked, with his yard and his arse exposed. |
| transf. 1683 Snape Anat. Horse iii. v. (1686) 114 It [sc. the pineal gland] is also called the Yard or Prick of the Brain..because it resembleth a Man's Yard. |
† b. = pintle-fish (see
pintle 3).
Obs.| 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. xviii. 174 Colybdænæ, Yards or shamefishes..Gesner..saith that the French men call this fish the Asses-prick, and Dr Wotton termeth it grosly the Pintle fish. 1661 Lovell Hist. Anim. 232. |
12. U.S. slang. One hundred dollars; one thousand dollars; a bill for this amount.
| 1926 Amer. Mercury Dec. 465/2 One hundred dollars is a century or a yard. 1929 C. F. Coe Hooch vi. 130 He slips him $300 an' promises him $700 more if they'll spring him... Baldy..promises to come right to me for the seven yards that make the grand. 1932 Amer. Speech VII. 118 Yard,..a thousand-dollar bill. 1942 Berrrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §18.5 (One) G, -gee or grand, thou, (one) yard, one thousand. Ibid. §467.2 One C, yard, a hundred dollars. 1979 V. Patrick Pope of Greenwich Village vii. 70 You throw a hundred to the guy who makes the loan... He writes the loan for thirteen hundred, you take twelve, and a yard goes south to him. |
13. attrib. and
Comb. as (sense 5)
yard-mast,
yard-tackle; (sense 9)
yard-band,
yard-glass,
yard-length,
yard-rule;
yard-broad,
yard-deep,
yard-long,
yard-square,
yard-thick,
yard-wide adjs.; (sense 11)
yard-ball,
yard-mattering,
yard-syringe;
yard-fallen adj.;
yard-coal,
yard-seam, a seam of coal a yard thick;
† yard-fell, the foreskin;
yard goods, fabric sold by the yard;
yard-stick, a rigid yard-measure; also
fig., a standard of comparison;
yard-work = yardage2 1. Also yardarm, -measure, -rope, -wand.
| 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. Descr. *j, *Yard-bals or Bels hung 'twixt the flesh and skin. |
| 1828 Craven Gloss., *Yerd-band, a rod of a yard in length. ‘The Ladies yerd-band’, the belt of Orion. |
| 1711 Act 10 Anne c. 18 §104 All such Callicoes..which shall be within One Eighth Part of a Yard of *Yard broad..shall pay as Yard broad. |
| 1855 J. Phillips Man. Geol. 188 *Yard coal. 3 feet. |
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., *Yard-fallen, a term..to express a malady to which horses are sometimes subject, which is the hanging down of the penis from its sheath.., the creature not being able to draw it up again. |
| 1382 Wyclif Jer. iv. 4 *Ȝerde felles. |
| 1882 N. & Q. 6th Ser. V. 456/1 The expense of 7s. 6d. was not his main reason for the non-replacement of the absent *yard-glass. |
| 1941 L. I. Wilder Little Town on Prairie v. 33 He'll get most of the trade in *yard goods, with somebody there in the store making them up into shirts. 1964 M. Laurence Stone Angel iv. 113 At the back was the section where yard-goods were sold, and ladies' and children's ready-to-wear garments hanging dejectedly on racks. 1982 S. T. Haymon Ritual Murder xix. 134 Patter of the travelling men who sold crockery and yard goods. |
| 1843 J. Ward Borough Stoke-upon-Trent 367 The drinking off a *yard-length-glass of ale at a single draught. |
| a 1711 Ken Edmund Poet. Wks. II. 52 In Ewen Bows they *Yard long Arrows shot. 1798 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. (1799) II. 276 A rope of yard-long words. 1822 Scott Nigel i, A nod of his yard-long visage. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 171 A yard-long dog⁓fish was dropped into..the boat. |
| 1579–80 North Plutarch (1595) 1000 They sawe the threescore shippes of Cleopatra busie about their *yard-masts, and hoysing saile to flie. |
| 1708 Kersey, *Yard-mattering, a Distemper in Horses. |
| 1862 Times 21 Jan., Strong active relays of pitmen and miners can soon clear the shaft from the *yard-seam. |
| 1799 in Spirit Publ. Jrnls. III. 388 Their *yard-square towels. |
| 1822 in W. R. Alger Life Edwin Forrest (1877) I. 100 Furnish me with every particular, especially how our Tid is, and whether she reads with the *yard-stick. 1828–32 Webster, Yard-stick. 1844 Emerson Lect., Yng. American Wks. (Bohn) II. 293 It has great value as a sort of yard-stick, and surveyor's line. 1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVI. 507 Senator Huerman was content to measure the Bland Bill with the yard-stick of the constitutional lawyer. 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, Yard-stick, an ash walking-stick, 3 feet in length..which a manager or underviewer carries with him in the pit, with which he roughly measures any lengths or work done..and with which he chastises unruly lads. 1929 Morning Post 4 June 15/6 This is considered more effective than a rough comparison by means of tonnage or range... It is hoped that this new American ‘yardstick’ will be ready for General Dawes when he leaves for London. 1949 Here & Now (N.Z.) Oct. 33/2 What yardstick should we use in assessing success or failure in farming? 1960 A. S. Neill Summerhill (1962) vi. 334 We all have our standards of values and we measure others by our personal yardstick. 1984 A. Smith Mind iv. xiv. 262 Whatever yardstick is used, it is probable that at least a million people on this planet kill themselves each year. |
| 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1715) 455/1 Make an Injection into the Yard, with a proper *Yard-Syringe. |
| 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., *Yard-tackles, tackles attached to the fore and main yards..whereby..the boats..are hoisted in and out. |
| 1901 K. Stewart By Allan Water i. 1 *Yard-thick walls bear testimony to its own great age. |
| 1766 W. Gordon Gen. Counting-ho. 427, 1 piece *yard-wide quilt. 1832 Babbage Econ. Manuf. xv. (ed. 3) 139 The practice, in retail linen-drapers' shops, of calling certain articles yard-wide, when the real width is, perhaps, only seven-eigths or three-quarters. 1865 Brierley Irkdale I. 9 Newspapers in his ‘yardwide days’, as he would term the period of his earliest acquaintance with manhood. 1893 Lady 17 Aug. 173/2 The yard-wide tweed usually sold for trousers. |
| 1883 Gresley Gloss. Coal-mining, *Yard Work,..synonymous with yardage. |
▪ III. yard, v.1 Chiefly
N. Amer. [f. yard n.1] 1. a. trans. To inclose (cattle, etc.) in a yard. Also with
up.
| 1758 in Essex Inst. Hist. Coll. (1874) XII. 140 The Dutch here have a nasty practice of yarding their cows in ye Street before their doors. 1826 J. Atkinson Agric. & Grazing N.S.W. 66 When they seem pretty well reconciled to the place, they are bedded out one night, and yarded the next. 1828–32 Webster, Yard, v.t., to confine cattle to the yard; as, to yard cows. (A farmer's word.) 1840 J. Buel Farmer's Comp. 68 The cattle should be kept constantly yarded in winter. 1855 Poultry Chron. III. 201 An old Creeper hen that had been yarded with the Chittagong rooster. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn xxxi, Well, lad, suppose we yard these rams? 1865 [see round v.1 5 f]. 1885 H. Finch-Hatton Advance Australia! 83 Seven or eight men were yarding up a mob of cattle. |
b. To store up (wood) in a yard.
| 1878 Lumberman's Gaz. Jan. 12 The logs which have been yarded or piled up in the woods. 1903 Windsor Mag. Sept. 405/2 They [sc. beavers] commence to build their houses and yard-up wood for the winter in September. |
c. To shoot deer in their yards.
| a 1891 Tribune Bk. Sports 432 (Cent. D.) ‘Pot-hunters’ have other methods of shooting the Adirondack deer, such as yarding and establishing salt licks. |
2. intr. Of moose, etc.: To resort to winter quarters (see
yard n.1 5). Also with
up.
| 1852 H. W. Herbert Field Sports (ed. 4) II. 199 Here it [sc. the moose] still breeds, and yards in winter. 1874 W. Stamer Gentl. Emigrant I. 293 The caribou do not yard. They winter it out on the bogs. 1894 Century Mag. Jan. 354 They do not..yard up until the deep snow comes. |
▪ IV. yard, v.2 [f. yard n.2 In sense 1 used to render Manx slattys, f. slat rod, wand of authority.] 1. trans. In the Isle of Man, to summon for hiring: used of the hiring of servants by the coroner of a sheading on behalf of those entitled to a prior claim for their services at a low wage.
| 1662 in M. A. Mills Stat. Laws I. of Man (1821) 116 That the Coroners of this Isle, who..by Statute have had the Benefit of yarding of three Servants within their Sheading,..shall for the future have but the Benefit of one yarded Servant. 1667 Ibid. 138 The Wages mentioned in the said Statute was only intended for such Servants as were made by Jurys and Yarding. 1726–31 Waldron Descr. Isle of Man (1865) 39 If any man or maid-servant be esteemed extraordinary in their way, either he [sc. the lord's steward], the Governour, or the two Deempsters have the power to oblige such a servant to live with them for the space of a year, and receive no more than six shillings for their service during the said time. This they call yarding. Ibid., All servants who have any apprehensions of being yarded. 1892 Denham Tracts I. 199 The old privilege of yarding, given by ancient customary law to the Lords, Deemsters, and Chief Officers in the island. |
2. To furnish with sailyards.
| 1676 T. Miller Modellist Index, In the second Page is shewed a Rule for Masting and Yarding. 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4117/4 Easy Directions to Build, Rigg, Yard, and Mast any Ship. |