garden definition

English garden definition

Etymology

From Middle English gardyn, garden, from Anglo-Norman gardin, from Frankish *gardō (“fenced-in yard, garden”), from Proto-Germanic *gardô, *gardaz, whence also inherited English yard.

The final -in derives either from the Frankish inflected form *gardin or is a Romance diminutive of *gard (compare Old French jart alongside jardin, Medieval Latin gardinus).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: gärʹdən, IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑːdn̩/

• Audio (RP)

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• (General American) enPR: gärʹdən, IPA^(key): /ˈɡɑɹdən/, /-n̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

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• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)dən
• Hyphenation: gar‧den

Noun

garden (plural gardens)

1. An outdoor area containing one or more types of plants, usually plants grown for food or ornamental purposes.

   a vegetable garden    a flower garden

   • 1629, John Parkinson, “The Situation of a Garden of Pleasure, with the Nature of Soyles, and How to Amend the Defects that are in Many Sorts of Situations and Grounds”, in Paradisi in Sole Paradisus Terrestris. […], London: […] Hvmfrey Lownes and Robert Yovng […], OCLC 1203323330, page 1:

     […] I ſuppoſe the North ſide of the water to be the beſt ſide for your garden, that it may haue the comfort of the South Sunne to lye vpon it and face it, and the dwelling houſe to bee aboue it, to defend the cold windes and froſts both from your herbes, and flowers, and early fruits.

   1. (in the plural) Such an ornamental place to which the public have access.

      You can spend the afternoon walking around the town gardens.

   2. (attributive) Taking place in, or used in, such a garden.

      a garden party;    a garden path;    a garden spade

      • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 5, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

        The garden parties of pre-1914 were something to be remembered. Everyone was dressed up to the nines, high-heeled shoes, muslin frocks with blue sashes, large leghorn hats with drooping roses. There were lovely ices […] with every kind of cream cake, of sandwich, of éclair, and peaches, muscat grapes, and nectarines.

2. (Britain, Ireland, Appalachia) 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.  We were drinking lemonade and playing croquet in the garden.  Our garden is overgrown with weeds.

3. (cartomancy) The twentieth Lenormand card.
4. (figuratively) A cluster; a bunch.
   • 1965: Charles McDowell, Campaign Fever: The National Folk Festival, from New Hampshire to November, 1964, page 11 (Morrow)

     Behind the tangled garden of microphones that had sprouted on the lectern, Goldwater spoke softly and casually about his family.

5. (slang) Pubic hair or the genitalia it masks.
   • 1995, Lee Tyler, Biblical Sexual Morality and What About Pornography? viewed at etext.org on 9 May 2006

     Blow on my garden [speaking of her genitalia], so the spices of it may flow out. Let my Beloved come into His garden [her pubic area] and eat His pleasant fruits.

   • N.B. From a commentary on Song of Solomon 4:16, which was written in Hebrew c. 950 BC; book footnotes are shown here within brackets. Many scholars disagree with this Biblical interpretation, which is included as evidence of the word's usage in 1995 rather than its intended meaning in 950 BC.
   • c. 2004, Hair Care Down There, Inc, The History of Hair Removal viewed at haircaredownthere.com on 9 May 2006 -

     Primping and pruning the secret garden might seem like a totally 21st century concept, but the fact is women have gotten into below-the-belt grooming since before the Bronze Age.

Synonyms

• (decorative place outside):
• (gardens with public access): park, public gardens
• (grounds at the front or back of a house): yard (US, Canada, Australia)
• (the pubic hair): See pubic hair

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: dyari
• → Nafaanra: yaadi

Translations

Verb

garden (third-person singular simple present gardens, present participle gardening, simple past and past participle gardened)

1. (intransitive, chiefly Canada, US) to grow plants in a garden; to create or maintain a garden.

   Synonym: make garden (dated)

   I love to garden — this year I'm going to plant some daffodils.

2. (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.

   Synonym: farm

Derived terms

• gardener
• gardening

Translations

Adjective

garden (not comparable)

1. Common, ordinary, domesticated.

Anagrams

• Gander, danger, gander, grande, graned, nadger, ranged

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Cebuano garden definition

Etymology

From English garden.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: gar‧den

Noun

garden

1. a garden

Verb

garden

1. to make or turn into a garden

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:garden.

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Danish garden definition

Noun

garden c

1. definite singular of garde

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Galician garden definition

Verb

garden

1. third-person plural present subjunctive of gardar

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Middle English garden definition

Etymology 1

From Old Northern French gardin.

Noun

garden

1. Alternative form of gardyn

Etymology 2

From Anglo-Norman guardein.

Noun

garden

1. Alternative form of gardein

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Norwegian Bokmål garden definition

Noun

garden m

1. definite singular of gard
2. definite singular of garde

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Norwegian Nynorsk garden definition

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [¹ɡɐ̞ːren], [¹ɡɐ̞ːɳ̩] (examples of pronunciation)

Noun

garden m

1. definite singular of gard

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /²ɡɑrdn̩/

Noun

garden m

1. definite singular of garde

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Sranan Tongo garden definition

Etymology

From Dutch gordijn (“curtain”).

Noun

garden

1. window blind
2. awning (shelter from sunlight)

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Swedish garden definition

Noun

garden

1. indefinite plural of garde.