Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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}.]
   1. 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.

   2. 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}.