1. [N. Amer] The enclosed land around a house or other building
   "it was a small house with almost no yard";
   - grounds, curtilage
    
2. A unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimetres; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
   "The football field was 100 yards long";
   - pace
    
3. A tract of land enclosed for particular activities (sometimes paved and usually associated with buildings)
   "they opened a repair yard on the edge of town"
    
4. An enclosure for animals (as chicken or livestock)
   "The chickens pecked at the ground in their yard"
    
5. An area having a network of railway tracks and sidings for storage and maintenance of cars and engines
   "The old steam engine was restored in the railway yard"; "The train pulled into the bustling railway yard for inspection";
   - railway yard [Brit, Cdn], railyard, railroad yard [N. Amer], switchyard [N. Amer]
    
6. A tract of land where logs are accumulated
   "The lumberjacks transported the freshly cut logs to the yard"
    
7. A long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen
   "The sailors adjusted the yard to catch more wind"
    
8. A unit of volume (as for sand or gravel)
   "They ordered 10 cubic yards of gravel for the driveway";
   - cubic yard
    
9. [Brit] An area of land next to a house, usually uncultivated and often paved and surrounded by walls
   "The children played in the yard all afternoon";
   - backyard [Brit]

Derived forms: yards

Type of: capacity measure, capacity unit, cubage unit, cubature unit, cubic content unit, cubic measure, displacement unit, enclosure, field, linear measure, linear unit, parcel, parcel of land, piece of ground, piece of land, spar, tract, volume unit

Part of: chain, fathom, fthm, lea, perch [Brit, archaic], pole [Brit, archaic], rod [Brit, archaic], sailing ship, sailing vessel

Encyclopedia: Yard, She Blows!