yerd

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English yerd (“yard”).

Noun

yerd (plural yerds)

1. (obsolete) A yard, plot of ground around a building or fenced paddock.
   • 1899, The Publications of the Yorkshire Parish Register Society:

     James Sympson, buryed in the yerd, xxvj may

     quote from 1593

   • 1902, Sussex Record Society - Volume 42, page 282:

     "William Luff, fysherman, of the parishe of St Clementes in Hastyng . . . My body to be buryed in the church yerd of st Clementes” 17 Jun. 1545.

   • 1981, David Postles, Sheffield in 1581, page 20:

     Robert Shertecliff for cheife rent of his tane yerd which he bought of my Lord pro dimidio anno xiid .

2. (obsolete) A yard (unit of measurement); three feet.
   • 1910, Transactions of the St. Paul's Ecclesiological Society, page 174:

     (15 aprill 1550 ) Such Napery as was in the church the same day one towell of holand of iij yerdes dimidium long & yerd brode one towell of calicow cloth / v yerdes a quarter long & dimidium yerd brode

   • 1941, Louth (England). St. James's Church, Reginald Charles Dudding, The First Churchwardens' Book of Louth, 1500-1524, page 171:

     It 1 towell diaper olde 2 yerds di. yerd brede

   • 1974, John Smythe, Bristol Record Society, John Angus, The Ledger of John Smythe, 1538-1550, page 148:

     Itm. the 12 day of June 1545 he sent me a reckenyng by my sarvant Henry Setterfford of 25 seme Wellsche bordes at 6d the seame & of a brode yerd 3 qrs. of muster clothe at 4s the yerd & of a yerd of white kersy at 20d & 2 yerdes ½ Bristowe frise at 12d the yerd & of a yerd & I qr. russett kersy at 14d the yerd & for 4 yerdes 3 qr. grey frize at 6d the yerd.

Verb

yerd (third-person singular simple present yerds, present participle yerding, simple past and past participle yerded)

1. (obsolete) To bury or be buried.
   • 1854, Elijah Ridings, The Village Muse, Containing the Complete Poetical Works of E. Ridings, page 419:

     To owd Tim's grave this neet aw bin, An' yerd him in't mysel.

   • 1877, John Cheap the Chapman's Library, page 7:

     and when she dies, I'm to pay for the yerding of her honestly, and a' the o'ercome is to be my ain; and by that time I'll be as rich es e'er my father was before me.

   • 1923, George Forrest Browne, Echt-Forbes Family Charters 1345-1727, page 50:

     Forbes took him at the kirk of Forbes and struck off his head and caused yerd him behind the kirk, and sett his grave about with tippet stones, where it remains as yet ( 1580 ) to testifie the same.

   • 1960, Victor Gaffney, The Lordship of Strathavon: Tomintoul Under the Gordons, page 63:

     Spalding recounts the incident: Alexander Gordon of Dunkyntie and George Gordon his eldest son, with some servants,being at the hunts in Glenelg o at the head of Strathaven, were upon the 19th August cruelly murdered by certain highland limmars, likeas the laird and his son in their defence slew three of thir lowns, but craftily they presently yerded two of them in a hole, and the third they left lying above the ground,

   • 1991, Emrys Jones, The New Oxford Book of Sixteenth Century Verse, page 73:

     At Baguley that burn his biding-place he had; His ancestors of old time have yerded there long, Before William Conqueror this country inhabited.

Etymology 2

Pronunciation dialect

Verb

yerd

1. Heard.
   • 1857, Oud John, A Yewud Chap's Trip to Manchister to see Prince Halbert, page 12:

     But seein this postman made me think ov a tale ut aw yerd obeawt one e Howcom.

   • 1860, Bobby Shuttle, Bobby Shuttle un his Woife Sayroh's Visit to Manchester, page 34:

     Missis, says one, dunnot be so cuttin - yoar as keen as yoar mestur. Un, to be comfortable neaw; han yoa yerd th' news?

   • 1885, Benjamin Brierley, Ben Brierley's Works: Ab-o'th', page 71:

     I're a little bit gloppent i' th' mornin when I wakkent; an' yerd what I took to be a whul hive o' hummabees buzzin i' th' window.

   • 1900, M. E. Francis, A Daughter of the Soil, page 328:

     Yo'n not' yerd no news, Ruth, I s'pose?

Anagrams

• Dery, Drey, Drye, Dyer, Ryde, d'yer, drey, dyer

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English ġeard, from Proto-West Germanic *gard, from Proto-Germanic *gardaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰórdʰos; cognate with Old Church Slavonic градъ (gradŭ) and a doublet of garth.

Alternative forms

• yerde, ȝerd, ȝeerd, yeerd, ȝeard, yard, yarde, yorde, ȝarde, yherde, ȝorde, ȝeorde

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɛːrd/, /ˈjɛrd/
• (Late Middle English) IPA^(key): /ˈjard/

Noun

yerd

2. A fenced piece of land; a yard:
   1. The property of a manor or other large rural dwelling.
   2. A churchyard; a piece of land around a church.
   3. A paddock; a field that has been fenced in.
3. A plot of land; a piece of property, especially agricultural.
4. A garden; a plot of horticultural land.

Descendants

• English: yard
• Scots: yerd, yaird, yird

Verb

yerd (third-person singular simple present yerdeth, present participle yerdynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle yerded)

1. To beat with a stick.

References

• “yē̆rd, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-26.

Etymology 2

Noun

yerd

1. Alternative form of ȝerde (“bar”)

Scots

Noun

yerd

1. Archaic spelling of yird (“earth, ground”).

Derived terms

• yerd-hunger