yapster 
yapster (yap'stfer), w. [< yap^ + -ster.] A dog. 
Tufts'ti Glossary of Thieves' Jargon (1798). 
yar^ (yar), v. i. ; pret. and pp. yarred, ppr. yar- 
ring. [Also yarr, Sc. yirr; < ME. *^arren, $aren, 
gurreHf ^eorren, < AS. georran, girran, gyrran 
(= MHG. girren)j roar, cry, rattle, chatter.] 
To snarl ; gnar. 
llienne watz hit lif vpon list to lytlien the houndez, . . . 
Louile he [the fox] watz gayned [hallooed] with jarande 
speech. 
Sir Oaicayrie and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.X I. 1724. 
All the dogs were flocking about her, yarring at the re- 
tardmeiit of their access to her. 
(Trguhart, tr. of Rabelais, II, xxii. (Davies.) 
yar^, yare^ (yar. yar), «. [Origin not ascer- 
tained.] Sour; brackish. [Prov. Eng.] 
yaraget (yar'aj), «. [< yare^ -^ -age.^ yattt. ythe 
power of moving or capability of being man- 
aged at sea: used with reference to a ship. 
To the end that he might, with his light ships, well 
manned with water-men, turn and environ the galleys 
of the enemies, the which were heavy of parage, both for 
their bigness, as also fur lack of water-men to row them. 
North, tr. of Plutarch, p. 777. 
yarb (yarb), H. A dialectal form of herb. 
Her qualifications as white witch were boundless cun- 
ning, . . . [and] some skill in yarbg, as she called her 
simples. Kingsley, Westward Ho, iv. 
yard^ (yard), V. [Early mod. E. also yeard; 
< ME. yerd^ ^^rrf. < AS. gyrdy girdj gierd, a rod, 
= OS. gerda = D. aardCj a rod, twig, = OHG, 
gartjay gertay MHu. G. gerte, a rod, switch; 
from the more primitive noun, ORG. MHG. 
gart, a rod, yard, = Goth. gazdSy a goad, = Icel. 
gaddr = AS. gddy E. goad (the AS. gad, if = 
Goth, gazds, involves an irregular contraction, 
and may be a diff. word) ; ef. L. hasta, a spear: 
see goadj gad^y and hastate.] If. A rod ; a stick ; 
a waad ; a branch or twig. 
'Vhe yerd of a tre that is haled adown by myhty strengthe 
bowith redyly the crop adoun. 
Chaucer, Boethius, iii. meter 2. 
The cros I knlle the heerdys [shepherd's] jerde; 
Therwith the deuyl a dent he 3af. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.). p. 204. 
Ther-fore on his s^rde skore shalle he [the marshal] 
AUe messys in halle that seruet be. 
Babeeg Book (E. E. T. 3.), p. 312. 
Whan Joseph offeryd his ^erde that day, 
Anon ryth ffortli in present 
The ded styk do floure tful gay. 
Coventry Mytteries, p. 6. 
Hence — 2t, Rule; direction; correction. 
" Hoate," quod he, '*I am under your yerde ; 
Ye han of us as now the governaunce." 
Chaucer, Prol. to Clerks Tale, 1. 22. 
3, A measuring-rod or -stick of the exact length 
of 3 feet or 36 imperial inches ; a yardstick. 
You would not, sir: had I the yeard in hand, 
Ide measure your pate for this delusion. 
Heywood, Fair Maid of the Exchaiige(Work8,ed.l874,II.40X 
4, The fundamental unit of English long mea- 
sure. The prototype of the British Imperial yard (to 
which the United Slates Office of Weights and Measures 
conforms, thoutfh without express authority) was legal- 
ized in 1»&5. It is a bar nmde of a kind of bronze or gun- 
metal known as BaUu'i metal. It has a square section 
of 1 inch on the sides, and is 3S inches long. But at I 
inch from each end a well is drilled into one of Its sur- 
faces «o that the bottom it in the central plane of the bar, 
and tnt4t the bijttotn of the well is sunk a gold plug, upon 
whose mat surface is engraved one of the two defining 
lines. The yard is defined as the distance between these 
lines at 62* K., with tlie understanding that the bar is 
to be supported in a particular manner, and that the 
thermometers are U) l>e constructed according to certain 
rules. The lines are designed to l>e looked at with the 
microscopes of a ci>ntparator ; but they are not so free 
from blur that their middles can lie determined more 
nearly than U* a millionth part of the distance between 
tliem. This staudard was made after the practical de- 
itruction of the previous legal prototype, that of 1760, 
in the burning of the Houses of Parliament, Octol>er 16th, 
1834. and was legalized as a new prototype because its 
length agreed with what had been recognized In 1819 \ty 
the .Standards romniiHsion asthe scientific standard yard — 
namely, with a certain scale, or rather with Captidn Ka- 
ter's measures of th:it scale, known as Shuckbtirgh'H scale, 
having l>een made in 1794 by Troughton for Sir George 
Shuckburgh, who in his comparisons of it first introduced 
the comparator with micrometer microscopes. Tlds scale 
was a copy of another which had \wen made for the Royal 
Society in 1742, from which the standard of 1760 was 
copied. This was a bar having upon one side two gold 
studs, each with a dot pricked upon it; and it was used 
by bringing the jmints of a beam-compass Into these dots, 
which had thus S'ton Ijecome badly worn. Older standards 
itill extantare those of (iueen Elizabeth and of Henry VII. 
The latter ft shorter than the present yard by one thou- 
sandth part of its length, or al)OUt ;V of an inch. It is said 
thut the yard was made to be of tlie length of Henry I.'s 
arm — doutitle»«8 a falde, even if helieved by that monarch 
himself. Customary units are not changed so easily. Yet 
It Is true that there a|)pear t«ibe no traces in the measures 
of buildings earlier than the twelfth century of the use of a 
f'ard equal to onrs, nor (d its snbilivisions ; while ii» the 
ater Norman and Gothic structures a foot eqnal to the 
third of our yard has often clearly l)een used. But the 
7009 
Gothic architects of England more usually employed a 
foot of 13^ modern inches, a unit probaldy derived from 
France; and the oldest works show a foot of 12i modern 
inches, no doubt the old Saxon foot, agreeing very nearly 
with the Rhineland foot of modern Germany. Some Brit- 
ish remains, as Stonehenge, were evidently constiucLed 
with Roman measures. The Standards Commission of 
1819 reported that 37 inches of cloth were frequently given 
for each yard, which is almost precisely Rhenish measure. 
They also found local yards of 38 and 40 inches. As a cloth 
measure, the yard is divided into 4 quarters = 16 nails. 
(See cloth-measure, under ineasxire.) A square yard con- 
tains 9 8<iuare feet, and a cubic yard 27 cubic feet. Con- 
tracted yd. 
A good oke stafFe, a yard and a half e. 
Each one had In his hande. 
Robin Hood and the Peddlers (Child's Ballads, V. 244X 
That there might be no Abuse in Measures, he [Henry 
I.] ordained a Measure made by the Length of his own 
Arm, which is called a Yard. Baker, Chronicles, p. 38. 
5, ^awf.,a long cylindrical spar having a roimd- 
ed taper toward each end, slung crosswise to a 
mast and used for suspending certain of the 
sails called cxihev square or lateen sails accord- 
ing as the yard is sus]>ended at right angles or 
obliquely. Yards have sheave-holes neartheirextremi- 
tiea for the sheets reeving through. Either end of a yard, 
or rather that part of it which is outside the sheave-hole, 
is called the yard-arm; the quarter of a yard is about 
half-way between the sheave-hole and the slings. Going 
upward from the deck, the yards are known as the lower 
yards, topsail-, topgallant-, &nd royal-yards, except where 
double topsails are used, when the topsall-yard is replaced 
by the lower and upper topsail- yards. Lower yards and 
topsail-yards are sometimes made of iron, and hollow. 
See cuts at abox, a-cockbitl, cockscomb, and tihip. 
I boarded the king's ship ; ... on the topmast, 
The yards, and bowsprit would I flame. 
Shak.. Tempest, i. 2. 200. 
Three new topsails, . . . with stops and frapping-lines, 
were bent to the yards, close-reefed, sheeted home, and 
hoisted. R. H. Dana, Jr., Before the Mast, p. 260. 
6. A long piece of timber, as a rafter, Oxford 
Glossary. — 7. In her.y a bearing representing a 
staff or wand divided into equal parts, as if for 
a measure. — 8. The virile member ; the penis. 
— After-yards {iiaut,\ the yards on the mainmast and 
mizzenmast.— Golden Yard or Yard and Ell, a popular 
name of the three stars in the belt of Orion.— Slings of 
a yaxd. see Win^i.— To man the yards, to place men 
on the yards of a ship— a form of saluting a distinguished 
person visiting the vessel. They stand on the yards, each 
with his inner arm over the life-line, and the other arm 
outstretched to the shoulder of the man next him.— To 
point the yards of a vessel. See points.— ^o allng 
the yards, to traverse a yard, to trim the yards. 
See tne verlis.- With spur and yardt. See spvr.~ 
Yard of ale, beer, or wine, (a) A slender glass, a yard 
in length, and capalde of holding a pint. Hence — (6) 
A pint of ale, beer, or wine served in a yard-glass, and 
usually drunk for amusement or on a wager, on account of 
the likelihtXMl of spilling or choking. Compare ale-yard. 
[Prov. Eng.] 
At the annual Vinls, or feast, of the mock corporation 
of Hanlcy (StaffordshireX the initiation of each meml)er, 
in 1783, consisted in his swearing fealty to the body, and 
drinking a yard o/ urine —i.e., a pint of port or sherry ont 
of a glaiis one yard in length. N. andQ., 4th ser.,X. 49. 
Yard of flannel. Sameasef/f/yf/p.— Yairdofland. Same 
as f/ard-laifi. 
yard^ (yard), V. t. [< yard^, n. : with ref. to the 
yards or staves of office carried by the coro- 
ner.] To summon for hiring: a process for- 
merly used in the Isle of Man, and executed by 
the coroner of the sheading or district on be- 
half of the deemsters and others entitled to a 
priority of choice of the servants at a fair or 
market. 
An obstruction both to the Farmers, Deemsters, and other 
Officers, who should have the Benefit of yarded Servants. 
Statute (1067), quoted in Ribton-Turner's Vagi-ants and 
[Vagrancy, p. 450. 
yard^ (yiird), w. [Also dial, (Sc.) yaird; < ME. 
ycrd, 7erd, < AS. geard, an inclosure, court, 
yard, c D. gaardy a garden, = OHG. gart, a 
circle, ring, = Icel. gardhr, an inclosure, yard 
(> E. garth^)y = Dan. gaard, a yard, court, 
farm, = Norw. gaard, a yard, farm, = Sw. 
gdrd, a yard ; also in a weak form, OS. gardo 
= OFries. garda = OHG. garto, MHG. garte, 
G. garten, garden, = Goth, garda, inclosure, 
stall, = L. hortn.f, a garden. = Gr. x^P'^'^^j a 
yard, court, = Russ. gorodii, a town (as in 
Novgorod, etc.); orig. *an inclosure,' from the 
verb represented by gird : see gird^. Cf . cohort, 
court. The word exists disguised in orchard. 
From the G. or LG. forms, through OF., comes 
also E. garden, and, from the Seand.. E. garth^.] 
1. A piece of inclosed ground of small or mod- 
erate size; particularly, a piece of ground in- 
closing or adjoining a house or other building, 
or inclosed by it: as, a front yard; a court- 
yord ; a doorywrrf; a churehyorr?; aninn-yarf/; 
a h^vii-yard ; a vineyard, 
A col-fox . . . thnrgh-out the hegces brast 
In-to the yerd ther Chaiintt'cleer the faire 
Was won^ and eek hise wyves, to rcpaire. 
Chaucer, Nun's Priest s Tale, 1. I'M. 
yard-land 
I found her seated in a little Ijack parlor, the window of 
which looked out upon a yard about eight feet sfiuare, laid 
out as a flower-garden. Irving, Sketch-Bouk, p. 147. 
In the precincts of the chapel-yarrf. 
Among the knightly brasses of the graves. 
Tennyson, Merlin and Vivien. 
Most of the houses [at Concord, Mass.], especially the 
newer ones, stand in their own well-kept grounds ov yards, 
facing the road, with no fence or hedge to sever them from 
the highway. Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XLIII. 679. 
2. An inclosure within which any work or bus- 
iness is carried on: as, a brick-yarrf; a wood- 
yard; a tan-yard; a doe^-yard; a stock-yard; a 
nsLvy-yard. 
The yardtt, great fenced-in portions of the place open- 
ing into one another, the largest covering a few acres, con- 
veying into smalleraiid smaller pens, which finally permit 
only one sheep abreast to pass up the narrow lane, at the 
top of which stands a swing gate and two series of pens 
distinct from one another. 
Percy Clarke, The New Chum in Australia, p. 174. 
3. In railway usage, the space or tract adja- 
cent to a railway station or terminus, which is 
used for the switching or making up of trains, 
the accommodation of rolling-stock, and similar 
purposes, it includes all sidings and roundhouses, 
etc., and, at way-stations, extends from the moat distant 
switch or signal-post in one direction of the line to the 
most distant signals in the opposite direction. 
4. A garden ; now, chiefly, a kitchen- or cot- 
tage-garden: as, a kskle-yard. [Prov. Eng. and 
Scotch.] 
Vnto ane plesand grund cumin ar thay, . . . 
The lusty orchartis and the halesnm ^ardis 
Of happy saulis and wele fortunate. 
Gavin Douglas, tr. of Virgil, p. 187. 
He [Christ] said himself, quhen he was in the yaird afore 
he was takin, Tristis est anima mca usque mortis. 
Abp. Hamilton, Catechism (1552), fol. 102 b. (Jamieson.) 
I-ang syne, in Eden's lionnie yard, 
When youthfu' lovers first were pair'd. 
Bums, Address to the De'il. 
5. The winter pasture or browsing-ground of 
moose and deer; a moose-yard. [U. S. and 
Canada.] — 6. A measure of land in England, 
varying locally: in Buckinghamshire, former- 
ly, 28 to 40 acres ; in Wiltshire, a quarter of an 
acre. Compare yard-land. 
yard2 (yard), v. [< yard'^, ».] 1. tra)is. To 
put into or inclose in a yard ; shut up in a 
yard, as cattle: as, to yard cows. 
II, intrans. 1. To resort to winter pastures: 
said of moose and deer. [U. S.] 
It [the caribou] never yard* in winter as do the deer and 
moose, nor dttes it show the same fondness for a given 
locality. Harpers Slag., LXXVIT. 506. 
2. To shoot deer in their winter yards. [Lo- 
cal, U. S.] 
" Pot-hunters " have other methods of shooting the Adi- 
rondack deer, such us yarding and establishing salt licks. 
In the former case, the deer are traced to their winter 
herding grounds and are then shot down. 
Tribune Book of Sportu, p. 432. 
yardage (yilr'daj), n. [< yard'^ + -fige.^ 1. 
The use or convenience of a yard or inclosui'e, 
as in receiving, lading, or unlading cattle, etc., 
from railroad-cars. — 2. The charge made for 
such use or convenience. — 3. In coal-mining, 
cutting coal at so much per yard or fathom. 
yard-arm (yard'sii-m), n. 6ee yard^, v„ 5. — 
Yard-arm and yard-arm, the situation of two ships 
lying alongside of each other so near that their yard-arms 
cross or toucli. Compare block and block, under block^. 
The Bulldog engaged the Friseur yard-arm and yard- 
ann, three glasses and a half; but wmh obliged to sheer 
off for want of powder. Johnson, Idler, No. 7. 
yardel (yiir'del), n. [< yartO-.~\ A yard-mea- 
sure. [Provincial.] 
I am glad you . . . disdain measuring lines like linen 
by a yn rdel. 
W. Taylor, 1804 (Robberds's Memoir, I. 493). {Danes.) 
yard-grass (yard'gras), n. Same as uire- 
grass, 2. 
yardkeep (yiird'kep), n. Same as yarwhelp. 
yard-land (yard'land), v. The area of land 
held by a tenant in villeinage in early English 
manors, consisting usually of an aggregate of 
some 30 strips in the open fields with a mes- 
suage in the village. In some counties it was 
15 acres; in others 20 or 24, and even 40 acres. 
See holding, 3 {a). Also yard of land. 
Now I am come to my living, which is ten yard layul &nd 
a house ; and there is never a yard lantf in our field but 
is as well worth ten pounds a year as a thief is worth a 
halter. Steele, Si)ectator, No. 324. 
The nunil>er of farmers had much dimiin'shed, and some 
had as much as three yard lands (a yard land is thirty 
acres). Nineteenth Century, XIX. 902. 
A very simple man . . . obtained the reversion of a mes- 
suage in Alston Sutton, Somersetshire, consisting of 1 cot- 
tage, 3 acres of land, 10 acres of nrable. 1 yard-land, and 
a meadow. //. lla'l. Society in Elizabetlian Age, iii. 
