yard

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
yard1

▶noun

• 1 (abbrev.: yd) a unit of linear measure equal to 3 feet (0.9144 metre).

  ■ a square or cubic yard, especially of sand or other building materials.

• 2 a cylindrical spar, tapering to each end, slung across a ship's mast for a sail to hang from.

• 3 US informal one hundred dollars.

– phrases
by the yard in large numbers or quantities.

– origin OE gerd, of W. Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
yard2

▶noun

• 1 chiefly Brit. a piece of uncultivated ground adjoining a building, typically one enclosed by walls.

  ■ an area of land used for a particular purpose or business: a builder's yard.

• 2 N. Amer. the garden of a house.

• 3 W. Indian a house and the land attached.

  ■ a residential compound comprising a number of small rented dwellings around a shared open area.

  ■ S. African a plot of land accommodating a number of rooms let out as living space.

• 4 (Yard) (among expatriate Jamaicans) home; Jamaica.

▶verb

• 1 N. Amer. store or transport (wood) in or to a timber yard.

• 2 put (farm animals) into an enclosure.

– origin OE geard ‘building, home, region’, from a Gmc base rel. to garden and orchard.