The Collaborative International Dictionary
Yard \Yard\, n. [OE. yard, yerd, AS. geard; akin to OFries. garda garden, OS. gardo garden, gard yard, D. gaard garden, G. garten, OHG. garto garden, gari inclosure, Icel. gar[eth]r yard, house, Sw. g[*a]rd, Dan. gaard, Goth. gards a house, garda sheepfold, L. hortus garden, Gr. cho`rtos an inclosure. Cf. Court, Garden, Garth, Horticulture, Orchard.]
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An inclosure; usually, a small inclosed place in front of, or around, a house or barn; as, a courtyard; a cowyard; a barnyard.
A yard . . . inclosed all about with sticks In which she had a cock, hight chanticleer.
--Chaucer. -
An inclosure within which any work or business is carried on; as, a dockyard; a shipyard.
Liberty of the yard, a liberty, granted to persons imprisoned for debt, of walking in the yard, or within any other limits prescribed by law, on their giving bond not to go beyond those limits.
Prison yard, an inclosure about a prison, or attached to it.
Yard grass (Bot.), a low-growing grass ( Eleusine Indica) having digitate spikes. It is common in dooryards, and like places, especially in the Southern United States. Called also crab grass.
Yard of land. See Yardland.
Usage examples of "prison yard".
On a previous visit, Longarm had been told that the Lowell Gun was capable of firing more than a hundred rounds a minute into any section of the prison yard.
The warden's office was in the prison building, and in order to reach that official from the prison yard one had to pass a gate of solid steel with only a peep-hole in it.
The new inspector, with two assistants, the doctor and medical assistant, the officer of the convoy, and the clerk, were sitting in the prison yard at a table covered with writing materials and papers, which was placed in the shade of a wall.
It was hard navigating the steps down from the bus, and he jumped the last two, landing lightly in the dusty prison yard.
The jealousy was fierce and frequently led to violence, and if the wife was caught looking at another stud or talking to one in the prison yard, tempers would flare.
He continued to make his way around the perimeter of the prison yard until he reached the south wall.
And then, filling the open doorway to the prison yard, a miracle in the flesh: Brutus Howell.
It began to move, across the prison yard and out through the gates Arcole could not see.