yardfowl
Syllables: yard·fowl/ˈjɑːdfaʊl//ˈjɑɹdˌfaʊl/
yardfowl noun: a chicken raised in a yard.
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Noun
yardfowl (plural yardfowl or yardfowls)
- A chicken raised in a yard.
- It alſo feeds Pheaſants, Partridges, Pidgeons, Yard-Fowls, &c., very expeditiously.1744 July, William Ellis, “Of French or Buck Wheat”, in The Modern Husbandman, or The Practice of Farming, volume III, London: Printed for, and sold by, T[homas] Osborne, […], and M. Cooper, […]...
- On the third and fourth shelves are the different races of domestic fowls, and near them several wild species from India and the Moluccas. It cannot yet be decided from which of them our common yard fowls have sprung.1823, [Joseph-Philippe-François] Deleuze, “§ V. Collection of Birds.”, in History and Description of the Royal Museum of Natural History, […] Translated from the French […], Paris: Printed for A....
- A political sycophant.
- Like an expectant dog barking for his supper, he [Barbados Prime Minister Tom Adams] rushes in to please his new master [Ronald] Reagan like all good yardfowls by attacking Grenada.1980 November 10, Maurice Bishop, quotee, “Adams’ election call angers Bishop”, in The Daily Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica: Gleaner Company, →OCLC, page 5; quoted in Tony Thorndike, “The Political...
- All Caribbean politicians have a network of supporters and informants, popularly known as ‘yard-fowls’. The VSN [Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale, or Tonton Macoute] were the yard-fowl armed.1985, Graham Walker, editor, The World Today, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs; Oxford University Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107, column 1
Examples of yardfowl in a sentence
- What ravishments, inaccessible to us, may not be written there, where the awakened yardfowl carves her fluid sport, to remotest whispers of the eagle's flight.1944, Peter De Vries, Angels Can’t Do Better, New York, N.Y.: Coward-McCann, →OCLC, page 177:
- By then Torin had used Brinda's pebbles to buy wine, bread, and a little yardfowl meat, so he had to give her their worth in other toys.1983, Jessica Amanda Salmonson, editor, Tales by Moonlight, New York, N.Y.: Tor Books, →ISBN, page 83:
- Oh, how pleased will Cromus be to read the boy's intestinal fortitude – a deal more accurate than the innards of yardfowl, he claims; they're sure to unblock those dream paths, as he calls them, [...]1996, Marc Sebanc, Flight to Hollow Mountain, Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, →ISBN, page 57:
- The peculiar term "Yardfowl" has been with us for nearly 40 years.[1986, Sanka Price, Jr., editor, Politics Barbados: The Guide to the General Election, 1986, Bridgetown, Barbados: Barbados Labour Party...
Forms of yardfowl
| plural | yardfowl |
|---|---|
| plural | yardfowls |
| alternative form | yard fowl |
| alternative form | yard-fowl |
Origin of yardfowl
From yard + fowl. Sense 2 (“political sycophant”) may allude to the tendency of chickens to gather around a person who is feeding them.
Words formed from yardfowl
Questions about yardfowl
- What does yardfowl mean?
- Yardfowl means a chicken raised in a yard.
- How do you use yardfowl in a sentence?
- What ravishments, inaccessible to us, may not be written there, where the awakened yardfowl carves her fluid sport, to remotest whispers of the eagle's flight.
- What part of speech is yardfowl?
- Yardfowl is a noun.
- How do you pronounce yardfowl?
- Yardfowl is pronounced /ˈjɑːdfaʊl/ (UK).
- What is the plural of yardfowl?
- The plural of yardfowl is yardfowl.
Words near yardfowl in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: yardfowl (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-yardfowl.wav, En-us-yardfowl.mp3.
Cite this entry: “yardfowl.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/yardfowl. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.