COURTYARD

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An area wholly or partly surrounded by walls or buildings

Example:

the house was built around an inner court

Synonyms:

court; courtyard

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("courtyard" is a kind of...):

area (a part of a structure having some specific characteristic or function)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "courtyard"):

atrium (the central area in a building; open to the sky)

bailey (the outer courtyard of a castle)

cloister (a courtyard with covered walks (as in religious institutions))

food court (an area (as in a shopping mall) where fast food is sold (usually around a common eating area))

forecourt (the outer or front court of a building or of a group of buildings)

parvis (a courtyard or portico in front of a building (especially a cathedral))

Holonyms ("courtyard" is a part of...):

building; edifice (a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place)

Credits

Context examples:

He carried them over to the window table, because from there he could see if you came across the courtyard, and so could effect an escape.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Another field crossed—a lane threaded—and there were the courtyard walls—the back offices: the house itself, the rookery still hid.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

After he had walked for a long time, he came to the courtyard of a royal palace, and as he felt weary, he lay down on the grass and fell asleep.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

“Is there an archer here hight Sam Aylward?” asked a gaunt man-at-arms, clanking up to them across the courtyard.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was so notorious in the house, that the masters and head-boys took pains to cut these marauders off at angles, and to get out of windows, and turn them out of the courtyard, before they could make the Doctor aware of their presence; which was sometimes happily effected within a few yards of him, without his knowing anything of the matter, as he jogged to and fro.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

As for the Lion, he wiped his eyes so often with the tip of his tail that it became quite wet, and he was obliged to go out into the courtyard and hold it in the sun till it dried.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I went into my own room and drew the curtains, but there was little to notice; my window opened into the courtyard, all I could see was the warm grey of quickening sky.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

And it looks out on an angle of the courtyard so as to be partly invisible.