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yard 1 (yärd)
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n.
1. Abbr. yd. A fundamental unit of length in both the US Customary System and the British Imperial System, equal to 3 feet, or 36 inches (0.9144 meter). See Table at measurement.
2. Nautical A long tapering spar slung to a mast to support and spread the head of a square sail, lugsail, or lateen.
3. Informal
a. A square yard: bought 4 yards of fabric.
b. A cubic yard: dug up 100 yards of soil.
[Middle English yerde, stick, unit of measure, from Old English gerd.]
(click for a larger image)
yard1
on the Mexican naval training vessel Cuauhtemoc
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
yard 2 (yärd)
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n.
1. A tract of ground next to, surrounding, or surrounded by a building or buildings.
2.
a. A tract of ground, often enclosed, used for a specific business or activity.
b. A baseball park.
3. An area where railroad trains are made up and cars are switched, stored, and serviced on tracks and sidings.
4.
a. A somewhat sheltered area where deer or other browsing animals congregate during the winter.
b. An enclosed tract of ground in which animals, such as chickens or pigs, are kept.
v. yarded, yard·ing, yards
v.tr.
To enclose, collect, or put into a yard.
v.intr.
To gather together into a yard: The deer are yarding up in their winter grounds.
[Middle English, from Old English geard; see gher-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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