What is "boulevard"

Boulevard \Bou"le*vard`\, n. [F. boulevard, boulevart, fr. G. bollwerk. See Bulwark.]

1. Originally, a bulwark or rampart of fortification or fortified town.

2. A public walk or street occupying the site of demolished fortifications. Hence: A broad avenue in or around a city. [1913 Webster] ||

1769, from French boulevard (15c.), originally "top surface of a military rampart," from a garbled attempt to adopt Middle Dutch bolwerc "wall of a fortification" (see bulwark) into French, which at that time lacked a -w- in its alphabet. The notion is of a promenade laid out atop demolished city walls, a way which would be much wider than urban streets. Originally in English with conscious echoes of Paris; since 1929, in U.S., used of multi-lane limited-access urban highways. Early French attempts to digest the Dutch word also include boloart, boulever, boloirque, bollvercq.

n. 1 A broad, well-paved and landscaped thoroughfare. 2 The landscaping on the sides of a boulevard or other thoroughfare.

n. a wide street or thoroughfare [syn: avenue]

A boulevard ( French, from – bulwark, meaning bastion), often abbreviated Blvd, is a type of large road, usually running through a city. These roads often replaced obsolete fortifications, hence the name.

In modern American usage it often means a wide, multi- lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and perhaps with roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery.

Larger and busier boulevards usually feature a median or central reservation. In some countries, the term boulevard is rarely encountered; the term avenue is often used instead.

A boulevard is a type of road, typically a wider more formal road.

Boulevard may also refer to:

Boulevard (usually referred to as "the Boulevard" although the street name does not include a definite article) is a historic street in the near West End of Richmond, Virginia, providing access to Byrd Park. It serves as the border between the Carytown/Museum District to the west and the Fan district to the east. Attempts have been made to rename the street after Arthur Ashe, a tennis star and social activist who was born and grew up in Richmond, but no renaming attempts have succeeded thus far. Near the south end is Richmond's Boulevard Bridge (commonly called the "Nickel Bridge," in reference to its toll, which has increased to 35 cents) across the James River. The Boulevard intersects with main arteries Cary Street, Main Street, Monument Avenue, Broad Street, Leigh Street, Interstate 64/95, and Hermitage Road. The Diamond is located on the Boulevard. The intersection of the Boulevard and Monument Avenue features a statue of Stonewall Jackson.

The Boulevard is designated as State Route 161, a route promoted in the 1940s and 1950s as an alternate bypass route before the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike and Interstate 95 were built, connecting with U.S. Route 1 north and south of downtown Richmond.

Boulevard is an album by French DJ Ludovic Navarre, released under the stage name St. Germain. It was originally released in the UK on July 28, 1995, but was later released in the USA March 26, 2002. The album is more dance music-oriented and relaxing compared to his 2000 hit album Tourist.

Boulevard was a 1976 album by Canadian singer-songwriter Murray McLauchlan.

Boulevard is a Canadian band (originally called BLVD) formed in 1983 in Calgary by Mark Holden (saxophone/vocals). The band dissolved in 1991. They reunited in 2014 and played at Firefest in Nottingham, England. The band has also started to write new songs for an upcoming record, due out in 2016. They released a DVD, "Live from Gastown" in December 2015.

Boulevard magazine, published by St. Louis University, is an American literary magazine that publishes award-winning prose and poetry. Boulevard has been called "one of the half-dozen best literary journals" by Poet Laureate Daniel Hoffman in The Philadelphia Inquirer. The magazine is based in Richmond Heights, Missouri.

Boulevard is a 1994 crime thriller film starring Rae Dawn Chong, Kari Wuhrer and Lou Diamond Phillips.

"Boulevard" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. It is from his 1980 album Hold Out. When it was released as a single, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart at position number 72 on July 5, 1980. It peaked at number 19 and spent 16 weeks on the chart, the fifth-biggest hit of Browne's Top 40 career. Besides the United States, the song was also released as a single in Spain, Japan, the U.K., Italy and Germany.

Boulevard is a street in and, as a corridor, a subdistrict, of the Old Fourth Ward neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The street runs east of, and parallel to, Atlanta's Downtown Connector. It begins at Ponce de Leon Avenue in the north (north of which it continues as Monroe Drive), passing through the Old Fourth Ward, Cabbagetown, and Grant Park, and forming the border between Chosewood Park on the west and Boulevard Heights and Benteen Park to the east. It ends at McDonough Boulevard in the south, at the Federal Penitentiary.

Boulevard is notable for being a center of high crime and drug activity in Atlanta, as well as the location of the highest concentration of Section 8 housing in the Southeastern United States.

Boulevard is a French film directed by Julien Duvivier, released in 1960, and set in the Quartier Pigalle. It focuses on Georges 'Jojo' Castagnier ( Jean-Pierre Léaud), an adolescent who lives in a poor room under the roof of a block of apartments in the Pigalle section of Paris. He ran away from home when he realized that his step-mother hated him from day-one. Among Jojo's many neighbors is the gorgeous Jenny Dorr ( Magali Noël), a nightclub dancer, whose lover he dreams of being. But, to Jojo's disappointment, Jenny becomes the lover of Dicky ( Pierre Mondy), a former boxer, who spends his time loafing about the Pigalle cafés.

Jojo lacks for steady work, but manages to meet his financial obligations with a series of odd jobs. He tries selling magazines, which is a success for a while, though posing as Narcissus for two gay artists proves to be something of a disaster. Eventually, he woos Marietta ( Monique Brienne), one of his other neighbors and a girl more suited to his age. But when things go really awry, Jojo becomes desperate and tries to commit suicide by jumping off the roof of his building.

Boulevard was a Finnish rock band, which was founded in 1983, by Kyösti Laihi and Erkki Korhonen. The band mainly played at clubs and bars. After their start, they were joined by Matti Auranen and Tuomo Tepsa. Other members of the band included Juha Lanu, Kari Vehkaluoto and Jari Puhakka.

The group became best known for representing Finland at the Eurovision Song Contest on two consecutive years

• 1987 - Vicky Rosti's backing group with the song Sata salamaa (A hundred lightnings), finished 15th place with 32 points.
• 1988 - Performers of the song Nauravat silmät muistetaan (Laughing eyes are remembered), finished 20th place with 3 points.

The group dissolved in 1994.

Boulevard was a lifestyle magazine created by Fiona Scott-Lazareff in 1990 in Paris. Boulevard was the flagship of the publishing group Mediatime France. It was a monthly glossy in English, targeting sophisticated, cosmopolitan readers and covering the latest trends in fashion, food, design, arts and culture in Paris.

Boulevard is a 2014 American drama film directed by Dito Montiel and written by Douglas Soesbe. Starring Robin Williams in his final on-screen role, Bob Odenkirk, Kathy Baker, Giles Matthey, Roberto Aguire, and J. Karen Thomas, the film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 20, 2014. The film was released on July 10, 2015 in a limited release by Starz Digital.

Boulevard is a New American fine dining restaurant located in San Francisco, California.