yard
yard
Unit of length equal to 36 inches, or 3 feet (see foot), in the U.S. Customary System or 0.9144 metre in the International System of Units. A cloth yard, used to measure cloth, is 37 in. long; it was also the standard length for arrows. In casual speech, a yard (e.g., of concrete, gravel, or topsoil) may refer to a cubic yard.
This entry comes from Encyclopædia Britannica Concise.
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