# garden

Pronunciation: US say "GAR-duhn" /ˈɡɑɹdn̩/; UK/AUS say "GAH-duhn" /ˈɡɑːdn̩/

## Noun

1. An area of ground where flowers, vegetables, or other plants are grown for food or beauty, whether beside a home or open to the public.
   - Simple: A piece of land where people grow flowers, fruit, or vegetables.
   - _Every spring she fills the garden with herbs and vegetables._
   - _A small garden of native wildflowers wrapped around the cottage._
3. The yard or grounds lying in front of or behind a house. *(dialectal, Appalachia, British, Ireland, New York City)*
   - Simple: The piece of ground around a house, at the front or the back.
   - _Their terraced house has a small garden at the back._
   - _He spent Sunday mowing the lawn in the front garden._
4. Taking place in, or intended for use in, a garden.
   - Simple: Happening in, or made for use in, a garden.
   - _The hotel hosted the wedding reception in its garden pavilion._
   - _He stored the garden hose in the shed for winter._
6. Used in street names, usually in the plural as Gardens, for a road or street, sometimes one built on former garden ground.
   - Simple: A word used in the names of some streets, usually as Gardens.
   - _The address reads 12 Cherry Tree Gardens, in the old part of town._
   - _Diamond dealers have done business on Hatton Garden in London for well over a century._
7. A cluster or bunch of things considered together.
   - Simple: A large group or bunch of things gathered together.
   - _Snorkelers drifted over a garden of sea anemones swaying gently in the current._
   - _A garden of microphones crowded the lectern before the press conference began._
8. A slang term for pubic hair, or the genitals it conceals. *(slang)*
   - Simple: A slang word for the hair and private parts between a person's legs.
   - _Before trying on swimsuits, she decided her garden could use a little tidying with the razor._
   - _The locker-room banter turned to whose garden needed the most grooming._

## Verb

2. To grow plants in a garden, or to create and look after one.
   - Simple: To grow and take care of plants in a garden.
   - _Retirees often garden to stay active and spend time outdoors._
   - _She has gardened on this plot for over thirty years._
9. To smoke marijuana, as a slang expression. *(slang)*
   - Simple: To smoke marijuana.

## Adjective

5. Common, ordinary, or of an everyday, domesticated kind.
   - Simple: Common and ordinary, nothing special.
   - _The diagnosis was common or garden flu, easily treated at home._
   - _It's a garden-variety scam that fools the unwary every year._

## Other meanings

- (verb) Of a batsman, to inspect the pitch and tap it lightly with the bat, smoothing out small rough patches and bumps.
- (noun) The twentieth card in the Lenormand cartomancy deck.

## Origin

This word came through Middle English 'gardyn' from Anglo-Norman 'gardin', which traces back to a Frankish and Proto-Germanic root meaning 'enclosure, yard, garden': the same source that gave English 'yard'. It is a doublet of 'jardin' and is cognate with Dutch 'gaard', German 'Garten', Icelandic 'garður', French 'jardin', and Italian 'giardino'.

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