yard n.2
1. (W.I./UK black) one’s home; one’s community.
![[WI]](/static/img/flags/wi.png "West Indies") | Letters from Jamaica 117: Annancy one day go to dis lady’s yard. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | ‘Jubba’ Songs from Jamaica 11: I ’member you a yard. | |
| Po’ Buckra 22: Barty rode into Aunt ’Americky’s yard. [...] This was home. | |
| One Jamaica Gal 58: The latrine [...] was shared by all the members of the ‘yard.’. | |
| Hills were Joyful Together (1966) 7: The scene is a yard in Kingston, Jamaica. | |
| (con. 1940s) ‘Tan a Yuh Yard’ in Jamaica Labrish 93: Tan a yuh yard an satisfy, / lef ’Merica alone. | |
| Yards in the City of Kingston 1: We heard such phrases as ‘the people in the yard would ....’, ‘the people in the yard did ...’. | |
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | White Talk Black Talk 117: Inna ya yard you jus’ a-watch T.V. | |
| Scholar 96: Yeah, yeah, you respected me. So how come you never phoned my yard? | |
| Londonstani (2007) 45: Fuck college, let’s take em straight to my yard. | |
 | ‘Shut Up’ 🎵 These MCs wanna talk about Lord of the Mics / You ain’t even lord of your yard. |
2. in attrib. use of sense 1.
| ‘Afternoon in Trinidad’ in Lehmann Penguin New Writing No. 6 70: During that time her yardfriends had shared their food with her. |
3. (US prison) the recreation area of a prison; also attrib.
| ‘Prison Dict.’ in AS VIII:3 (1933) 33/1: YARD. Clear space within the walls. | |
| Limey 281: Popy operated in the ‘yards’ where the men congregated between working spells. | |
| et al. DAUL 242/1: Yard. [...] 2. (P) Outdoor recreation area. (’On the yard!’ [Imperative] — It’s recreation time.). | |
| On the Yard (2002) 3: Society Red was the first man on the yard that morning. He sidled out of the south cellblock [and] squinted resentfully at the cold gray sky. | |
| ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 217: yard time, n. – time allowed a convict in an outdoor recreation area. | |
| Permanent Midnight 348: You are what the guys on the yard used to call a real gazoonie. | |
| Night Gardener 37: People say they saw the guards passin out knives to the A.B.s, right before they cornered Red out in the yard. |
4. a house or other dwelling place.
| ‘Tom Kittle’s Wake’ in D’Costa & Lalla Voices in Exile (1989) 104: Molly tief pass, maam, den go da him yard. | |
| ‘Don’t Love A-Nobody’ in Rainbow in Morning (1965) 165: I does all my creepin’ in the white folks’ yard. | |
| ‘Becky’ in Nigger to Nigger 61: She been up to de white folks’ yard wid she three chillun. | |
| (con. 1900s) Banana Bottom 146: Owl man, you come slap into mi yard fer fass wid me? You bettah get outa mi yard befoh ah ferget meself. | |
| ‘Sweetie-Pie’ in Jam. Dialect Poems 9: Wat day me call a Becky yard. | |
| Cactus Village 27: We has to work hard and we is not able to do nothin’ else but sit down at we yard all day long. | |
| Prime Minister (1978) 31: The ‘yard,’ as Weekesie called his house, was a three-bedroom bungalow. | |
| ‘Tenemeny Yahd’ in Touch Mi, Tell Mi 43: People liable fi get eena a temper / Wen dem pen up eena tenement yahd. | |
| Curvy Lovebox 70: Nood’s burglarized a coupla breezy yards in his time. | |
| (con. c.1945) Island Songs (2006) 30: Me don’t ready fe dat yet. Me waan me own yard before me t’ink about dem t’ings. | |
| Jamaica Obs. 23 Aug. 🌐 She was sent to live with her grandmother [...] in a ‘big yard’ with an extended family. | |
| Who They Was 7: The yard she walked up to with the big white door . |
5. (S.Afr.) a brothel.
![[SA]](/static/img/flags/sa.png "South Africa") | The Park and Other Stories (1983) 21: Yer gotta sister at Motta Siena’ s yard? Motta Siena doan worry colour of de tool wat screw her girls. Long yer gotta money, yer get on toppa her girls. |
6. (US campus) the campus.
| Campus Sl. Nov. | |
| Campus Sl. Apr. |
7. (Irish) a toilet.
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Slanguage. |
8. (Aus. prison) a (minimally furnished) cell.
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Intractable [ebook] The yards were not wide enough for an inmate to spread out both arms. They were ten paces deep and furnished with a concrete slab. Showering and [...] using the lavatory, were functions decided upon and controlled by screws. |
In compounds
a notably tough prison.
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] Knox has spent more time inside than out in the last thirty years, some hard yards as well. |
(W.I.) a working-class youth, living in an urban slum.
| Catch a Fire 151: The yardboys and ghetto punks were unaccustomed to hearing a street-wise fellow like Higgs spout the homilies of [...] the Rastas. |
1. (US, also railroad bull, railroad dick, yard dick) a railroad police officer, guard or detective [SE marshalling yard].
| S.F. Chronicle 6 Mar. 3: To them [i.e. tramps] the detectives are known as ‘railroad bulls.’. | |
| Wash. Post 21 Jan. 2/8: Stalls a yard dick – Bluffs a railroad detective. | |
| From Coast to Coast with Jack London 19: Of an almost invaluable importance to the devotee of vagabondage was the exact knowledge of the location of the lairs of the railroad ‘bulls.’. | |
| You Can’t Win 69: Better wait till night if you want to make a train. The railroad bull is hostile. | |
| Main Stem 44: There was a merciless yard-dick in Cheyenne. | |
| Dark Hazard (1934) 182: The yard dick got up leisurely and stretched; then he buttoned his coat. [Ibid.] 190: I came in on a freight and a yard bull chased me. | |
| (con. 1920s) Big Money in USA (1966) 1182: The boring eyes of cops and deputies, railroadbulls. | |
| Sister of the Road (1975) 33: The shacks are hostile, and the railroad dicks will glom you sure, unless you’re lucky. | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 255: yard bull [...] yard dick A railroad detective. | |
| Rally Round the Flag, Boys! (1959) 96: Getting his skull banged regularly by yard bulls. | |
| Skid Row 43: Boxcars expose their occupants to the danger of discovery by railroad ‘bulls,’ an encounter not soon to be forgotten. | |
| (con. 1900s) Panzram (2002) 25: They rode the freights [...] at the the risk of [...] being placed in jail by yard dicks (railroad police). | |
| Straw Boss (1979) 13: The second yard dick grabbed Mike’s worn parachute jumper’s jacket. | |
| Duke of Deception (1990) 49: That one killed a railroad bull and went to prison. | |
![[Can]](/static/img/flags/can.png "Canada") | (con. 1920s) Legs 161: I think he must have got nabbed by a yard bull. | |
| Legs 8: The yard bull’s going to pick you off the train or grab you in the yards because you don’t have the savvy to outsmart him. | |
| From Bondage 340: The fuckin’ railroad bull caught me ridin’ in the blinds. | |
| I Got a Monster 135: After working the streets in Baltimore, being a railroad bull was a bore. |
2. a prison guard.
| We Who Are About to Die 26: There are two kinds of bulls: the gun bulls, who are on the wall and carry firearms; and the yard bulls, who are inside, down among the convicts. | |
| Go-Boy! 146: The yard bulls cruising in pairs disbanded any large cliques. |
(US) a prison guard.
| , | | DAS. |
1. a group of convicts.
| NDAS. |
2. a prison guard.
| NDAS. |
(US prison) a prison homosexual.
| 25th Hour (2002) 193: They’ll make me a suck puppet for every yard queen in the house. |
1. (US prison) a prisoner who frequents the prison yard, socializing with friends.
| (con. 1998–2000) You Got Nothing Coming 144: Most cons just cluster in little ethnic groups, watching, waiting, kicking it. These are the Yard Rats. |
2. in a non-prison context.
| A Steady Rain I ii: It don’t even hit me this yard rat’s leading me somewheres. |
In phrases
(US prison) of a prisoner, associating with the general population (rather than in solitary confinement or protective custody).
| Lowspeak. | |
| Prison Sl. 9: Back on the Yard Refers to an inmate moving back into general population from isolation or protective custody. ‘Quig is out of the hole and back on the yard again.’. |
(US black) to have an adulterous affair.
| ‘Dear Prudence’ column 26 June at slate.msn.com 🌐 Yours is, indeed, a modest proposal. All that needs to happen for your plan to work is that the entire female population consistently resist the urge to play in someone else’s yard … and then have the tooth fairy’s sister reward them for behaving honorably. |
SE in slang uses
In compounds
see separate entries.
(US gay) one who prefers sex outdoors.
| Queer Sl. in the Gay 90s 🌐 Yard Boy – A gay male who prefers to have sex outdoors. |
1. an ill-dressed, badly behaved individual.
| New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 261: yarddog (n.): uncouth, badly attired, unattractive male or female. | |
| ‘Jiver’s Bible’ in Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive. | |
| Book of Negro Folklore 488: yarddog : A low, loud and boisterous person. He ain’t nothing but a yarddog. | |
| Viva La Madness 19: He serves every yard-dog and head-the-ball who can’t get served anywhere else. |
2. a loyal but mediocre companion.
| Who Live In Shadow (1960) 189: yard-dog – A lowly but extrememly loyal attaché. |
3. a hotel security guard.
| Raiders 23: The hotel [...] had two ex-coppers working as hotel detectives [...] These two ‘yard dogs’, with their years of spotting a ‘wrong ’un’, had got Bob squarely in their sights. |
(W.I.) a term of abuse.
| Prime Minister (1978) 29: Lipps is a joke. He’s what we call a yardfowl [...] ‘yardfowl’ was the most uncomplimentary term one man could use to describe another man. |
a subservient, acquiescent black.
| Mulatto in Three Negro Plays (1969) Act I: Knowing he’s one of your yard niggers, Norwood, I thought I ought to come and tell you. | |
| Central Sl. 60: yard nigger A derogatory epithet cursing one as a slave or field hand not allowed in or near the house. ‘Do you own shit, I ain’t no yard nigger.’. |
In exclamations
1. an invitation to have sexual intercourse.
| Sun. Trib. (Dublin) 1 Oct. n.p.: After some featherweight frolics about a St Patrick’s day edition and a feature on nude colleens, ‘get up the yard, yeh girrul, yeh’ – O’Donnell was allowed to rabbit on about the Playboy philosophy [BS]. |
2. a general dismissive excl.
| Annals of Ballykilferret 10: Suddenly there was a cry, terrifying in its aloneness in the empty ether, ‘Get up the yard, ye silly bollocks, yer flies is open!’. | |
| Magill Jan. n.p.: How often has one turned away in despair as one watched from the Dáil press gallery while Deputies stooped to such vulgarisms as ‘Gerrup the yard ya feckin bowsie’ [BS]. |