Emily Dickinson Lexicon

YARD, n. [Sax. geard, gerd, gyrd, a rod, that is, a shoot.]

1. A measure of three feet or thirty-six inches. It is just seven-ninths of the Paris ell.
2. [Sax. gyrdan, to inclose; Dan. gierde, a hedge, an inclosure; gierder, to hedge in, Sw. gärda.] An inclosure; usually, a small inclosed place in front of or around a house or barn. The yard in front of a house is called a court, and sometimes a court-yard. In the United States, a small yard is fenced round a barn for confining cattle, and called barn-yard or cow-yard.
3. In ships, a long, slender piece of timber, nearly cylindrical, suspended upon the mast, by which a sail is extended. Yard of land, in old books, a certain quantity of land, but different in different counties. In some counties it was 15 acres, in others 20 or 24, and even 40. Dock-yard, a place where ships are laid up. Prison-yard, primarily, an inclosure about a prison, or attached to it. Hence liberty of the yard, is a liberty granted to persons imprisoned for debt, of walking in the yard, or within any other limits prescribed by law, on his giving bond not to go beyond those limits. United States.