# acre

Pronunciation: US say "AY-kur" /ˈeɪ.kɚ/; UK say "AY-kuh" /ˈeɪ.kə/

## Noun

1. An English unit of land area, originally a day's plowing for a team of oxen, now fixed at 4,840 square yards, or about 4,046.86 square meters.
   - Simple: A unit for measuring land, equal to 4,840 square yards.
   - _The new park will cover a single acre in the city center._
   - _Surveyors measured the field at just over three acres._
2. A broad, open expanse of space or surface. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A very wide, open area.
   - _Beyond the fence stretched an acre of untouched marshland._
   - _The gallery's white walls framed acres of bare floor._
3. A large amount or great number of something. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A very large amount of something.
   - _The promotion brought acres of new responsibility she hadn't expected._
   - _She insisted there was still an acre of work to finish before dawn._
4. Any of several comparable units of land area used in measuring systems other than the English one.
   - Simple: A land measurement used in other systems, much like the English acre.
   - _A Scottish acre covered more ground than its English counterpart._
   - _Old deeds sometimes record land in local acres that differ from the modern standard._
5. A historical unit of land area used in the Chester area, equal to 10,240 square yards, or four quarters.
   - Simple: An old land measurement once used around Chester, equal to 10,240 square yards.
   - _A farmer near Chester might plow an acre that dwarfed the standard English plot._
   - _Medieval rolls valued the manor at several acres under the larger Chester measure._

## Noun

6. A field; a piece of open or plowed farmland. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: An open piece of land used as a field.
7. Either of two old English units of length, the breadth of an acre (22 yards) or its length (220 yards). *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Old units of length based on the sides of an acre, about 22 yards or 220 yards.
   - _The field ran an acre's breadth along the lane and an acre's length toward the river._
   - _Each plowed strip stretched a full acre's length before the headland._
8. A duel fought between an individual Scot and an Englishman in the border country. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A one-on-one fight between a Scot and an Englishman near the border.

## Origin

From Middle English acre, from Old English æcer ("field where crops are grown"), tracing back through Proto-Germanic *akraz ("field") to the Proto-Indo-European root *h₂éǵros ("field"). It is related to Dutch akker, German Acker, Latin ager, and Ancient Greek ἀγρός (agrós), all meaning "field."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/acre (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).