Lawn vs. Yard — What's the Difference?

A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. Lawns are usually composed only of grass species, subject to weed and pest control, maintained in a green color (e.g., by watering), and are regularly mowed to ensure an acceptable length.

The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length, in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement, that comprises 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it is by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.9144 meters.

A plot of grass, usually tended or mowed, as one around a residence or in a park.

Abbr. yd. A fundamental unit of length in both the US Customary System and the British Imperial System, equal to 3 feet, or 36 inches (0.9144 meter). See Table at measurement.

A light, finely woven, cotton or linen fabric.

(Nautical) A long tapering spar slung to a mast to support and spread the head of a square sail, lugsail, or lateen.

An open space between woods.

A square yard

Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with grass kept closely mown.

A cubic yard

(biology) An overgrown agar culture, such that no separation between single colonies exists.

A tract of ground next to, surrounding, or surrounded by a building or buildings.

(uncountable) A type of thin linen or cotton.

A tract of ground, often enclosed, used for a specific business or activity.

(in the plural) Pieces of this fabric, especially as used for the sleeves of a bishop.

A baseball park.

A piece of clothing made from lawn.

An area where railroad trains are made up and cars are switched, stored, and serviced on tracks and sidings.

An open space between woods.

A somewhat sheltered area where deer or other browsing animals congregate during the winter.

Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with grass kept closely mown.

An enclosed tract of ground in which animals, such as chickens or pigs, are kept.

A very fine linen (or sometimes cotton) fabric with a rather open texture. Lawn is used for the sleeves of a bishop's official dress in the English Church, and, figuratively, stands for the office itself.

To enclose, collect, or put into a yard.

A field of cultivated and mowed grass

To gather together into a yard

A small, usually uncultivated area adjoining or (now especially) within the precincts of a house or other building.

The property surrounding one's house, typically dominated by one's lawn.

An enclosed area designated for a specific purpose, e.g. on farms, railways etc.

A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.

One’s house or home.

A unit of length equal to 3 feet in the US customary and British imperial systems of measurement, equal to precisely 0.9144 m since 1959 (US) or 1963 (UK).

Units of similar composition or length in other systems.

(nautical) Any spar carried aloft.

(nautical) A long tapered timber hung on a mast to which is bent a sail, and may be further qualified as a square, lateen, or lug yard. The first is hung at right angles to the mast, the latter two hang obliquely.

(obsolete) A branch, twig, or shoot.

(obsolete) A staff, rod, or stick.

A penis.

100 dollars.

(obsolete) The yardland, an obsolete English unit of land roughly understood as 30 acres.

(obsolete) The rod, a surveying unit of (once) 15 or (now) 2 feet.

(obsolete) The rood, area bound by a square rod, 4 acre.

(finance) 10⁹, A short scale billion; a long scale thousand millions or milliard.

(transitive) To confine to a yard.

To move a yard at a time, as opposed to inching along.

A rod; a stick; a staff.

A branch; a twig.

A long piece of timber, as a rafter, etc.

A measure of length, equaling three feet, or thirty-six inches, being the standard of English and American measure.

The penis.

A long piece of timber, nearly cylindrical, tapering toward the ends, and designed to support and extend a square sail. A yard is usually hung by the center to the mast. See Illust. of Ship.

A place where moose or deer herd together in winter for pasture, protection, etc.

An inclosure; usually, a small inclosed place in front of, or around, a house or barn; as, a courtyard; a cowyard; a barnyard.

An inclosure within which any work or business is carried on; as, a dockyard; a shipyard.

To confine (cattle) to the yard; to shut up, or keep, in a yard; as, to yard cows.

A unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride

The enclosed land around a house or other building;

A tract of land enclosed for particular activities (sometimes paved and usually associated with buildings);

An area having a network of railway tracks and sidings for storage and maintenance of cars and engines

An enclosure for animals (as chicken or livestock)

A unit of volume (as for sand or gravel)

A long horizontal spar tapered at the end and used to support and spread a square sail or lateen

The cardinal number that is the product of 10 and 100