churchyardn.
/ˈtʃəːtʃjɑːd/, U.S. /ˈtʃərtʃˌjɑrd/ 1.
a. The enclosed piece of consecrated ground in which a church stands, formerly almost universally used as a burial ground for the parish or district, and occasionally still used for Christian burials or memorials when space permits. Cf. kirkyard n.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > artefacts > land > [noun] > churchyard
church townOE
churchyard?a1160
church hayc1175
kirkyardc1175
kirk-garth1298
purseynta1325
church hawc1330
sanctuary garth1412
procinct1422
precinctc1425
sanctuary1432
church-earth1449
church-littena1450
church garth1484
cemetery1485
church acre1596
God's acre1605
kirk shot1935
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > burial ground or cemetery > [noun] > churchyards
church townOE
churchyard?a1160
church hayc1175
church hawc1330
church-earth1449
church-littena1450
spiritualitiesa1470
church garth1484
church acre1596
yard1792
?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 Ne forbaren hi nouther circe ne cyrceiærd.
c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 163 Ich..Eede o Ring i chirchȝard.
c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 1317 Þai..comen bi a chircheȝerd And metten a bere to chirche-werd.
c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xvi. l. 11 Ne corses of poure comune in here churche-ȝerd [c1400 Vesp. chirche, c1400 Trin. Cambr. kirke].
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 75 Chyrcheȝarde [1499 Pynson churcheyerde], cimitorium.
1512 Act 4 Hen. VIII c. 2 §2 The Churche or Churchyerd or other place preveleged.
1575–6 in J. Raine Depositions Courts Durham (1845) 278 They of St. Margaret's wolde not smatter ther own church yard with thoise that then died in the plage.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) iii. iii. 52 Like Graues i'th holy Church-yard . View more context for this quotation
1638 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 5) Democritus to Rdr. 61 Separate places to bury the dead in, not in churchyards.
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 419. ¶5 The Church-yards were all haunted.
1791 A. Macaulay Hist. & Antiq. Claybrook 116 An affidavit was sent..of the body having been buried in woolen in Saint Pancras church-yard.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 8 He..scarce could pass A church-yard's dreary mounds at silent night.
1882 Harper's Mag. Nov. 841/1 Outside, in the little churchyard, under the spreading branches of a gnarly old yew-tree, we found many curious specimens of grave-stone literature.
1929 L. W. Reese Victorian Village 3 Racing up through Saint John's churchyard on a gray afternoon..and stopping just inside the church door.
2001 R. Hill Dialogues of Dead (2002) xxviii. 322 After the interment..people milled around the churchyard.
b. A burial ground not belonging to a Christian church; a cemetery; a graveyard. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > burial ground or cemetery > [noun]
littenc900
charnel1377
burying-place1382
fosse?a1425
churchyard1477
golgotha1604
God's acre1605
cemetery1613
burial-place1633
dormitory1634
burying-ground1711
burial-field1743
graveyard1767
burial-ground1803
burial-yard1842
boneyard1866
Boot Hill1901
necropole1921
memorial park1927
grave-site1953
1477 Earl Rivers tr. Dictes or Sayengis Philosophhres (Caxton) (1877) lf. 49v The peple said to alexander that he was euer in the chircheyerd.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. xxi. xi. 92 The other..groweth commonly in churchyards among graues and tombs.
1631 E. Howes Stow's Ann. 999/1 Diuers Church-yards new layd apart, dedicated for reuerend places to bury the dead.
1678 N. Wanley Wonders Little World v. iii. §12. 474/1 Anicetus..was..buried in the Church-yard of Calistus.
1882 Trans. Soc. Biblical Archæol. 7 320 The Moslem churchyard runs the length of this wall.
2008 K. Buciek & K. Juul in B. Graham & P. Howard Ashgate Res. Compan. Heritage & Identity ii. vi. 107 The Jewish churchyards.., together with the Russian and German sections of the public cemeteries, witness to a multicultural presence.
2. The precincts or close of a cathedral or large church, as a place of residence or commerce. Now chiefly historical.The chapels, cloisters, etc., of many cathedrals (notably St Paul's, London) were seized by the Crown and sold to secular traders at the Reformation. They were often associated with the bookselling and publishing trades.
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society > faith > artefacts > land > [noun] > churchyard > of cathedral
close1371
churchyard1467
college1824
1467 in J. T. Smith & L. T. Smith Eng. Gilds (1870) 393 (MED) The citezens dwelling withyn the churche yordes, or ffraunchesies aioynynge to this, the citee.
1563 W. Fulke Goodle Gallerye Causes Meteors (colophon) To be sold at his shop in S. Dunstones churchyarde in the Weste.
1577 W. Fletewoode Let. 30 July in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. III. ccii. 56 Here fell a mischaunce betwene two..men, and the on of them was killed in Powles churche yarde.
1692 London Gaz. No. 2771/4 Lost..between St. Paul's Church-yard, and the Six Clerks-Office.
1766 J. Entick Surv. London in New Hist. London IV. 252 The clothiers..had their booths and standings within the church-yard.
1817 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 107 194 That instrument..which I estimated between four and five feet above the foot pavement on the north side of St. Paul's church-yard.
1905 E. G. Duff Cent. Eng. Bk. Trade 109 The colophons of these two books speak of him as living in the Minster churchyard.
2007 F. Lincoln Nature's Alchemist vii. 93 The poet and preacher John Milton lived in the churchyard of St Bride's on Fleet Street.
Phrases
Proverb. a green winter (also Christmas) makes a fat churchyard and variants: a warm winter causes many deaths.
ΚΠ
1635 J. Swan Speculum Mundi v. §2. 161 A hot Christmas makes a fat Church-yard.
1710 Brit. Apollo 27–29 Nov. A Green Christmas makes a Fat Church-Yard.
1791 R. Townley Jrnl. kept Isle of Man I. 309 It is an old saying, That a green winter makes a fat church-yard.
1838 J. Comstock Tongue of Time x. 347 Dr. Rush inclined to give credence to the opinion, that a green Christmas makes a fat churchyard.
1868 T. Inman On Preserv. of Health xvii. 113 ‘I suppose this sharp, bracing air makes all your patients well, eh?’ ‘You know the old proverb—“A green winter makes a fat churchyard”,—ha ha.’
1921 Greater N.Y. 19 Dec. 13/2 It may be that the maxim: ‘A green Winter makes a fat churchyard’, is all wrong.
1995 H. Dunmore Spell of Winter viii. 96 ‘A green winter makes a full churchyard,’ everyone said.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
ΚΠ
1448 Acct. in Berks, Bucks & Oxon Archæol. Jrnl. (1902) 8 58 (MED) For mendyng ye chirch yard gate i d.ob.
1460–5 Churchwardens' Accts. St. Andrew's, Eastcheap in Brit. Mag. 31 394 For..a kay to the chyrch yard durr and for ij Crewettys.
1584 in J. Barmby Churchwardens' Accts. Pittington (1888) 16 For mendinge a gappe in the churchyard wall..ij d.
1602 R. Carew Surv. Cornwall ii. f. 137v The Curate..receiued him at the Church yard stile.
1680 in W. Cramond Church of Grange (1898) 35 That the churchyard dykes should be pinned with stone and lyme to prevent their ruine.
1798 W. Wordsworth We are Seven in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 111 In the church-yard cottage, I Dwell near them with my mother.
1831 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 29 219 The bodiless cherubs on our churchyard stones.
1875 G. MacDonald Malcolm I. vii. 67 A cottage rather larger than the rest, which stood close by the churchyard gate.
1910 E. M. Forster Howards End xi. 85 A wood-cutter,..perched high above their heads, pollarding one of the churchyard elms.
1937 ‘S. Smith’ Good Time was had by All 25 The churchyard pales are black against the night.
1992 Nat. World Autumn 29/4 The RSNC Wildlife Trusts Partnership promotes a number of themes, including..churchyard conservation, wildlife hospital gardens and community nature reserves.
C2.
a. attributive. With allusion to the churchyard as the site of burial: associated with or indicative of (impending) death; (also) melancholy, sepulchral.Recorded earliest in churchyard cough n. at Compounds 2b; now rare except in this collocation.
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the world > life > death > disposal of corpse > burial > burial ground or cemetery > [adjective] > type of
churchyard1693
catacumbal1865
necropolitan1877
1693 W. Robertson Phraseologia Generalis (new ed.) 379 A church-yard cough; the Phthisick or Tisick.
1792 Flagellant 26 Apr. 144 The church-yard gloom assails his imagination with more terror than the pressing point of the sword.
1820 J. Keats Eve of St. Agnes in Lamia & Other Poems 92 A poor, weak, palsy-stricken, churchyard thing.
1825 H. Wilson Mem. (1929) 475 There is something so remarkably transparent about Meyler's skin, it is, in fact, a churchyard-skin..I hope I am mistaken.
1915 J. Buchan Thirty-nine Steps i. 25 He was a whining fellow with a churchyard face.
1945 ‘G. Orwell’ in Tribune 21 June 13/1 Some of these seemingly frivolous rhymes actually express a deeply pessimistic view of life, the churchyard wisdom of the peasant.
b.
churchyard cough n. a bad cough, seemingly indicative of impending death; cf. graveyard cough n. at graveyard n. Compounds 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > respiratory spasms > [noun] > coughing > type of cough
fox's cough1611
churchyard cough1693
hacking1770
barking1813
graveyard cough1873
hoicking1926
smoker's cough1927
1693*Church-yard cough [see Compounds 2a].
1782 London Mag. Oct. 460/1 Lady Catterwaul was teized to sing, and she got through ‘Non temen’, &c. as well a good church yard cough, and a tolerable astmatic wheeze would permit.
1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers xli Jem coughed, poor fellow! he coughed his churchyard cough.
1913 Amer. Jrnl. Clin. Med. Dec. 1045/1 Prominent symptom, cough; but that churchyard cough caused hope to battle against hope.
2002 J. Dufresne Deep in Shade of Paradise 110 She told him he ought to have that looked at. That's a churchyard cough.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.?a1160