Backyard vs Yard - What's the difference?
backyard | yard |
A yard to the rear of a house or similar residence.
(colloquial) A person's neighborhood, or an area nearby to a person's usual residence or place of work and where the person is likely to go.
* {{quote-book, year=2005
, author=Christopher Kennedy Lawford
, title=Symptoms of withdrawal: a memoir of snapshots and redemption
, page=18
(colloquial) An area nearby to a country or other jurisidiction's legal boundaries, particularly an area in which the country feels it has an interest.
* {{quote-book, year=1942
, year_published=
, author=Wilfrid Hardy Callcott
, title=The Caribbean policy of the United States, 1890-1920
, page=343
A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building ().
*
, title= An enclosed area designated for a specific purpose, e.g. on farms, railways etc.
* {{quote-book, year=1931, author=
, title=Death Walks in Eastrepps
, chapter=2/2 (Jamaica) One’s house or home.
To confine to a yard.
* 1893 , Elijah Kellogg, Good old times, or, Grandfather's struggles for a homestead
(nautical) A long tapered timber hung on a mast to which is a sail, and may be further qualified as a square, lateen, or lug yard. The first is hung at right angles to the mast, the latter two hang obliquely.
(nautical) Any spar carried aloft ().
A staff, rod or stick.
A unit of length equal to three feet (exactly 0.9144 metres in the US and UK; ).
* , chapter=1
, title= (US, slang) One hundred dollars.
(obsolete) The penis.
*, II.12:
*:there were some people found who tooke pleasure to unhood the end of their yard , and to cut off the fore-skinne after the manner of the Mahometans and Jewes.
Yard is a derived term of backyard.
As nouns the difference between backyard and yard
is that backyard is a yard to the rear of a house or similar residence while yard is a small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building (Wikipedia).As a verb yard is
to confine to a yard.As a proper noun Yard is
Scotland Yard or New Scotland Yardbackyard
English
Alternative forms
* back-yard, back yardNoun
(en noun)citation, isbn=0060732482, 9780060732486 , passage=The entire beach was my backyard , from the Hiltons' house in the south all the way to Steele Hunter's house in the north.}}
citation, passage=However, the region was in the United States backyard and Britain should look passively on with acquiescence in whatever policy the United States saw fit to pursue about Mexico.}}
Usage notes
Note that backyard'' is usually written as a single word, while ''front yard is always written as two words.Derived terms
* backyard cricket * not in my backyard (NIMBY)yard
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) yard, .Noun
(en noun)Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage='Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard —peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.}}
citation, passage=A little further on, to the right, was a large garage, where the charabancs stood, half in and half out of the yard .}}
Derived terms
See also Yard * apple-yard * back yard, back-yard, backyard * barn-yard, barnyard * bone-yard, boneyard * brickyard * castle yard * chapel yard * churchyard * court-yard, courtyard * deer-yard, deeryard * dockyard * door-yard, dooryard * dung-yard * farm-yard, farmyard * fore-yard * front yard * graveyard * green-yard, greenyard * grip-yard * hemp-yard * hop-yard * inn-yard, innyard * junk-yard, junkyard * kailyard, kaleyard * kirkyard * knacker's yard * liberty of the yard * lumber-yard, lumberyard * marshaling yard, marshalling yard * mast-yard * navy yard, navy-yard * olive-yard * * palace yard * par-yard * poultry-yard * press-yard * rick-yard, rickyard * rope-yard * sale-yard, saleyard * schoolyard * scrapyard * shipyard * show-yard * stable-yard * stack-yard, stackyard * steelyard * stockyard * straw yard * switchyard * tan-yard, tanyard * tenter-yard * tilt-yard, tiltyard * timber-yard, timberyard * vinegar-yard * vineyard * wood-yard, woodyard * yardage * yard bird, yardbird * yard-boy * yard broom * yard-dike * yard-dog * yardful * yard grass, yard-grass * yardhove * yarding * yardland * yardman * yardmaster * yard-money * yardperson * yard sale * yardsman * yardswoman * yard work, yard-workVerb
(en verb)- As they reached the door, Bose, having yarded the cows, was stealing around the corner of the pig-sty, and making for the woods.
Etymology 2
From (etyl) yerd, , German Gerte.Noun
(en noun)- (Piers Plowman)
Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Thinks I to myself, “Sol, you're run off your course again. This is a rich man's summer ‘cottage’