A yard is an area of land immediately adjacent to one or more buildings . It may be either enclosed or open. The word may come from the same linguistic root as the word garden and has many of the same meanings.
13-413: A barnyard or farmyard is an enclosed or open yard adjoining a barn , and, typically, related farm buildings, including a farmhouse . Enclosed barnyards are usually formed by a combination of fences and farm structures. A barnyard of the 19th century was fenced-in an area of about 1-acre (4,000 m) or more; modern barnyards per se may not be as large, but agricultural properties still may use
26-468: A front garden and a back garden . The term yard is reserved for a hard surfaced area usually enclosed or at least with limited access. In modern Britain , the term yard is also used for land adjacent to or amongst workplace buildings or for commercial premises, for example timberyard , boatyard or dockyard . In North America, the term "garden" refers only to the area that contains plots of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and/or ornamental plants ; and
39-402: A more common location for recreation. Yard size varies with population density. In urban centers, many houses have very small or even no yards at all. In the suburbs, yards are generally much larger and have room for such amenities as a patio , a playplace for children, or a swimming pool . In British English , these areas would usually be described as a garden , similarly subdivided into
52-435: A perimeter fence around areas of concentrated animal management to help contain any that may get loose. The barnyard is the domain of the mules , horses , and other working animals , as well as fowl and working pets, such as barn cats . On small farms, pasture animals such as milk goats or a dairy cow may stay in the barnyard when not in the fields. Depending on climate, barnyards may contain trees for shade. A water source
65-405: A property surrounding or associated with a house or other residential structure, usually (although not necessarily) separate from a garden (where plant maintenance is more formalized). A yard will typically consist mostly of lawn or play area. The yard in front of a house is referred to as a front yard, the area at the rear is known as a backyard. Backyards are generally more private and are thus
78-435: Is also a boon to mice and rats, so farmers often keep barn cats to control vermin . Yard (land) A number of derived words exist, usually tied to a particular usage or building type. Some may be archaic or in lesser use now. Examples of such words are: courtyard , barnyard , hopyard , graveyard , churchyard , brickyard , prison yard , railyard , junkyard , stableyard , and dooryard. One possible account of
91-639: Is also a general term used for outdoor seating at restaurants, especially in Canadian English . While common in Europe even before 1900, eating outdoors at restaurants in North America was exotic until the 1940s. The Hotel St. Moritz in New York in the 1950s advertised itself as having the first true continental cafe with outdoor seating. The Toronto Star welcomed that city's first patio in
104-484: Is also common; the watering trough in past times was supplied by water from a hand driven well , with the water kept in wooden or metal containers. The water trough was filled daily, perhaps by a pitcher pump , or by windmill power. Pumping the trough full, by hand, was often the chore of farm children. In modern times, a trough may be hand-filled with a hose, or an automatic water fountain designed for livestock may be installed in one or more locations. A large barn
117-421: Is often central to the barnyard, storing farm equipment , and providing stalls for the farm animals. In traditional designs, a hayloft often occupies the second floor, and a barn cupola caps off the hayloft. In some barns, the loft has a series of openings in the floor just above the stalls to send hay into the mangers below. In some places, the barn houses a corn crib and a corn sheller. Feed storage, however,
130-1093: The origin is the Middle English yerd , going back to Old English geard "fence, enclosure, dwelling, home, district, country," going back to Germanic * garđa - (whence also Old Saxon gard "garden, (compare the French jardin ) dwelling, world," Middle Dutch gaert "garden, yard," Old High German gart "enclosure, circle, enclosed piece of property," Old Norse garðr "enclosure, courtyard," Gothic gards (i-stem) "house, household, courtyard"; from an n-stem * garđan -: Old Frisian garda "family property, courtyard," Old Saxon gardo "garden," Old High German garto), perhaps (if from *ghortós) going back to Indo-European * ghortos "enclosure," whence also Old Irish gort "arable or pasture field," Welsh garth "field, enclosure, fold," Breton garz "hedge," Latin hortus "garden," Greek chórtos "farm-yard", "feeding-place", "fodder", (from which " hay " originally as grown in an enclosed field). "Girdle," and "court" may be other related words from
143-409: The same root. In areas where farming is an important part of life, a yard is also a piece of enclosed land for farm animals or other agricultural purposes, often referred to as a cattleyard, sheepyard, stockyard, etc. In Australia, portable or mobile yards are sets of transportable steel panels used to build temporary stockyards. In North America and Australasia today, a yard can be any part of
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#1732780691124156-402: The term "yard" does not refer to the "garden", although the flower garden or vegetable garden may be within the yard. Patio A patio ( / ˈ p æ t i oʊ / , from Spanish : patio [ˈpatjo] ; "courtyard", "forecourt", "yard", "little garden") is an outdoor space generally used for dining or recreation that adjoins a structure and is typically paved. In Australia ,
169-695: The term is expanded to include roofed structures such as a veranda , which provides protection from sun and rain . Pronunciation can vary in Australia as well: patty-oh is perhaps more common generally although payshee-oh may be used by older Australians. Patios are most commonly paved with concrete or stone slabs (also known as paving flags). They can also be created using bricks , block paving , tiles , cobbles or gravel . Other kinds of patio materials these days include alumawood, aluminum , acrylic and glass. Other options include concrete , stamped concrete , and aggregate concrete . Patio
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