YARD

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does yard mean? 

• YARD (noun)
  The noun YARD has 9 senses:

1. a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride

2. the enclosed land around a house or other building

3. a tract of land enclosed for particular activities (sometimes paved and usually associated with buildings)

4. the cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100

5. a unit of volume (as for sand or gravel)

6. a tract of land where logs are accumulated

7. an area having a network of railway tracks and sidings for storage and maintenance of cars and engines

8. a long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen

9. an enclosure for animals (as chicken or livestock)

  Familiarity information: YARD used as a noun is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• YARD (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

pace; yard

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

linear measure; linear unit (a unit of measurement of length)

Meronyms (parts of "yard"):

foot; ft (a linear unit of length equal to 12 inches or a third of a yard)

Holonyms ("yard" is a part of...):

perch; pole; rod (a linear measure of 16.5 feet)

chain (a unit of length)

lea (a unit of length of thread or yarn)

fathom; fthm (a linear unit of measurement (equal to 6 feet) for water depth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The enclosed land around a house or other building

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

curtilage; grounds; yard

Context example:

it was a small house with almost no yard

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

field (a piece of land cleared of trees and usually enclosed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "yard"):

side yard (the grounds at either side of a house)

playground (yard consisting of an outdoor area for children's play)

garden (a yard or lawn adjoining a house)

front yard (the yard in front of a house; between the house and the street)

dooryard (a yard outside the front or rear door of a house)

backyard (the grounds in back of a house)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A tract of land enclosed for particular activities (sometimes paved and usually associated with buildings)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

they opened a repair yard on the edge of town

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "yard"):

junkyard (a field where junk is collected and stored for resale)

schoolyard (the yard associated with a school)

churchyard; God's acre (the yard associated with a church)

tiltyard ((formerly) an enclosed field for tilting contests)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

1000; chiliad; G; grand; K; M; one thousand; thou; thousand; yard

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

large integer (an integer equal to or greater than ten)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "yard"):

millenary (a sum or aggregate of one thousand (especially one thousand years))

Sense 5

Meaning:

A unit of volume (as for sand or gravel)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

cubic yard; yard

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

capacity measure; capacity unit; cubage unit; cubature unit; cubic content unit; cubic measure; displacement unit; volume unit (a unit of measurement of volume or capacity)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A tract of land where logs are accumulated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)

Sense 7

Meaning:

An area having a network of railway tracks and sidings for storage and maintenance of cars and engines

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

railway yard; railyard; yard

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

parcel; parcel of land; piece of ground; piece of land; tract (an extended area of land)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "yard"):

marshalling yard (a railway yard in which trains are assembled and goods are loaded)

Sense 8

Meaning:

A long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

spar (a stout rounded pole of wood or metal used to support rigging)

Meronyms (parts of "yard"):

yardarm (either end of the yard of a square-rigged ship)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "yard"):

main yard (yard for a square mainsail)

Holonyms ("yard" is a part of...):

sailing ship; sailing vessel (a vessel that is powered by the wind; often having several masts)

Sense 9

Meaning:

An enclosure for animals (as chicken or livestock)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("yard" is a kind of...):

enclosure (a structure consisting of an area that has been enclosed for some purpose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "yard"):

chicken run; chicken yard; fowl run; hen yard (an enclosed yard for keeping poultry)

farmyard (an area adjacent to farm buildings)

stockyard (enclosed yard where cattle, pigs, horses, or sheep are kept temporarily)

barnyard (a yard adjoining a barn)

 Context examples 

It was thick fog, and one could not see three yards.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“For, in sooth, had he not pulled you down, a dozen cloth-yard shafts had crossed each other in your body.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A traditional unit of length equal to 1/80 mile, 22 yards, 66 feet or 20.1168 meters.

(Gunter's Chain USA, NCI Thesaurus)

Dim dawn glimmered in the yard.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

At some of them, the exposed deposit of water ice is more than 100 yards, or meter, thick.

(Steep Slopes on Mars Reveal Structure of Buried Ice, NASA)

But it happened there was no danger, for the cat took not the least notice of me when my master placed me within three yards of her.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Then the master took him into the chicken-yards.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Ten more yards, and he'd would have added me to HIS collection.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Because it is my nearest way from the stable-yard to my own chamber; and why should I not come up it?”

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Then I went into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would be best to do.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)