Emily Dickinson Lexicon

GAR'DEN, n. [G. garten; W. garth; It. giardino; Sp. jardin; Fr. id.; Port. jardim; Arm. jardd, jardin, or gardd. The first syllable is the Sax. geard, Goth. gards, Eng. yard, an inclosed place. The Saxon is ortgeard, Dan. urtegaard, Sw. örtegård, wortyard, an inclosure for herbs. The Irish is gairdin or garrdha; Hungarian, korth; L. hortus. In Slavonic, gard, Russ. gorod, signifies a town or city, and the derivative verb goroju, to inclose with a hedge. Hence Stuttgard, Novogrod or Novogardia. The primary sense of garden is an inclosed place, and inclosures were originally made with hedges, stakes or palisades. It is probable that in the East, and in the pastoral state, men had little or no inclosed land except such as was fenced for the protection of herbs and fruits, and for villages. See Coxe's Russ. B. 4.]

1. A piece of ground appropriated to the cultivation of herbs or plants, fruits and flowers; usually near a mansion-house. Land appropriated to the raising of culinary herbs and roots for domestic use, is called a kitchen-garden; that appropriated to flowers and shrubs, is called a flower-garden and that to fruits, is called a fruit-garden. But these uses are sometimes blended.
2. A rich, well cultivated spot or tract of country; a delightful spot. The intervals on the river Connecticut are all a garden. Lombardy is the garden of Italy. Garden, in composition, is used adjectively, as garden-mold, a rich fine mold or soil; garden-tillage, the tillage used in cultivating gardens.