God's acre

God's acre
Acre A"cre, n. [OE. aker, AS. [ae]cer; akin to OS. accar, OHG. achar, Ger. acker, Icel. akr, Sw. [*a]ker, Dan. ager, Goth. akrs, L. ager, Gr. ?, Skr. ajra. [root]2, 206.] 1. Any field of arable or pasture land. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

2. A piece of land, containing 160 square rods, or 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. This is the English statute acre. That of the United States is the same. The Scotch acre was about 1.26 of the English, and the Irish 1.62 of the English. [1913 Webster]

Note: The acre was limited to its present definite quantity by statutes of Edward I., Edward III., and Henry VIII. [1913 Webster]

{Broad acres}, many acres, much landed estate. [Rhetorical]

{God's acre}, God's field; the churchyard. [1913 Webster]

I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls The burial ground, God's acre. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу
Synonyms:

Look at other dictionaries:

  • God's Acre — is the traditional name given to the graveyards of Congregations of the Moravian Church. The first was at Herrnhut Saxony in Germany, the Moravian Mother Congregation. The name comes from the symbolic gesture of the bodies of the Moravian dead… …   Wikipedia

  • God's acre — God God (g[o^]d), n. [AS. god; akin to OS. & D. god, OHG. got, G. gott, Icel. gu[eth], go[eth], Sw. & Dan. gud, Goth. gup, prob. orig. a p. p. from a root appearing in Skr. h[=u], p. p. h[=u]ta, to call upon, invoke, implore. [root]30. Cf.… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • God's acre — n. a burial ground, esp. one in a churchyard …   English World dictionary

  • God’s acre — n. a cemetery. □ When I end up in God’s acre, I want everything to go on without me. □ They’re planting somebody new in God’s acre …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • God's acre — God s′ a′cre n. a churchyard • Etymology: 1610–20; trans. of G Gottesacker …   From formal English to slang

  • God's acre — archaic a churchyard. → God …   English new terms dictionary

  • God's acre — noun Date: 1617 churchyard …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • God's acre — a cemetery, esp. one adjacent to a church; churchyard. [1610 20; trans. of G Gottesacker] * * * …   Universalium

  • God's acre — noun A Christian place of burial; a churchyard …   Wiktionary

  • god's acre — graveyard of a church, cemetery …   English contemporary dictionary

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”