YARD

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Old English geard enclosure, ~; akin to Old High German gart enclosure, Latin hortus garden Date: before 12th century 1. a small usually walled and often paved area open to the sky and adjacent to a building ; court , the grounds of a building or group of buildings, the grounds immediately surrounding a house that are usually covered with grass, 3. an enclosure for livestock (as poultry), b. an area with its buildings and facilities set aside for a particular business or activity, an assembly or storage area (as for dry-docked boats), a system of tracks for storage and maintenance of cars and making up trains, a locality in a forest where deer herd in winter, II. adjective Date: 15th century of, relating to, or employed in the ~ surrounding a building , of, relating to, or employed in a railroad ~ , III. verb Date: 1758 transitive verb to drive into or confine in a restricted area ; herd , pen , to deliver to or store in a ~, intransitive verb to congregate in or as if in a ~, IV. noun Etymology: Middle English ~e, from Old English gierd twig, measure, ~; akin to Old High German gart stick, Latin hasta spear Date: before 12th century any of various units of measure: as, a unit of length equal in the United States to 0.9144 meter, a unit of volume equal to a cubic ~, 2. a great length or quantity , one hundred dollars, a long spar tapered toward the ends to support and spread the head of a square sail, lateen, or lugsail, a slender horn-shaped glass about three feet tall