Area
- Acre
- area of land one chain (four rods) in width by one furlong in length. As the traditional furlong could vary in length from country to country, so did the acre. In England an acre was 4,840 square yards, in Scotland 6,150 square yards and in Ireland 7,840 square yards. It is a Saxon unit, meaning field. Traditionally said to be "as much area as could be ploughed in one day".
- Rood
- one quarter of an acre, confusingly sometimes called an acre itself in many ancient contexts. One furlong in length by one rod in width, or 40 square rods.
- Carucate
- an area equal to that which can be ploughed by one eight-oxen team in a single year (also called a plough or carve). Approximately 120 acres.
- Bovate
- the amount of land one ox can plough in a single year (also called an oxgate). Approximately 15 acres or one eighth of a carucate.
- Perch
- an area equal to one square rod. (See also perch as a length and volume unit.)
- Virgate
- the amount of land a pair of oxen can plough in a single year. Approximately 30 acres (also called yard land).
Read more about this topic: English Units
Famous quotes containing the word area:
“Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.”
—C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)
“Self-esteem is the real magic wand that can form a child’s future. A child’s self-esteem affects every area of her existence, from friends she chooses, to how well she does academically in school, to what kind of job she gets, to even the person she chooses to marry.”
—Stephanie Martson (20th century)
“... nothing is more human than substituting the quantity of words and actions for their character. But using imprecise words is very similar to using lots of words, for the more imprecise a word is, the greater the area it covers.”
—Robert Musil (1880–1942)