garden
UK /ˈɡɑː.d(ə)n/ · US /ˈɡɑɹ.d(ə)n/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms gardens gardening gardened the Garden
- noun An outdoor area containing one or more types of plants, usually plants grown for food or ornamental purposes. “flower garden; herb garden; rose garden; vegetable garden”
- noun (in the plural) Such an ornamental place to which the public have access. “You can spend the afternoon walking around the town gardens.”
- noun (attributive) Taking place in, or used in, such a garden. “garden party; garden path; garden spade”
- noun (by extension) An ornamental garden featuring plants and other features to attract, house, conserve, benefit and/or display certain animals. “butterfly garden; wild bird garden”
- noun (UK, Ireland, Appalachia, New York City) The grounds at the front or back of a house. “This house has a swimming pool, a tent, a swing set and a fountain in the garden.”
- noun (in the plural, used in street names) A road, street, or similar thoroughfare, which sometimes occupies a former garden. “32 Windsor Gardens.”
- noun (cartomancy) The twentieth Lenormand card.
- noun (figuratively) A cluster; a bunch.
- verb (intransitive) To grow plants in a garden; to create or maintain a garden. “I love to garden—this year I'm going to plant some daffodils.”
- verb (intransitive, cricket) Of a batsman, to inspect and tap the pitch lightly with the bat so as to smooth out small rough patches and irregularities.
- verb (slang) To smoke marijuana.
- adjective Common, ordinary, domesticated.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun (UK, slang, obsolete) Covent Garden in London, England, or its theatre or market.
Synonyms
park public garden yard pubic hair make garden farm garden variety
Etymology
From Middle English gardyn, garden, from Anglo-Norman gardin, from Frankish *gardin-, oblique stem of *gardō (“enclosure, yard”), from Proto-Germanic *gardô (“enclosure, garden, house”), whence also inherited English yard. (compare Old French jart alongside jardin, Medieval Latin gardīnus). Doublet of jardin and of garth. Displaced Old English wyrttūn.
Cognate with West Frisian gard, Low German Goorn, Dutch gaard, gaarde, German Garten, Icelandic garður, French jardin, Spanish jardín, Italian giardino, Sicilian jardinu. Via PIE cognate with Bulgarian градина (gradina), Czech zahrada, Polish ogród, Russian огоро́д (ogoród).
Compare typologically Latin hortus (a possible cognate via PIE); Ancient Greek περίβολος (períbolos), Proto-Iranian *paridayjah (whence Ancient Greek παράδεισος (parádeisos)).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A piece of ground appropriates to the cultivation of herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables.
- noun A rich, well-cultivated spot or tract of country.
- verb To lay out or cultivate a garden; to labor in a garden; to practice horticulture.
- verb To cultivate as a garden.
Etymology [OE. gardin, OF. gardin, jardin, F. jardin, of German origin; cf. OHG. garto, G. garten; akin to AS. geard. See Yard an inclosure.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “garden”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details