Acre
Acre ({not transcribed}) , noun
[Old English aker, Anglo-Saxon acer; akin to Old Saxon accar, Old High German achar, German acker, Icelandic akr, Swedish åker, Danish ager, Gothic akrs, Latin ager, Greek {not transcribed}, Sanskrit ajra. r2, 206.]
1.
Any field of arable or pasture land. [Obsolete]
2.
A piece of land, containing 160 square rods, or 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet. This is the English statute acre. That of the United States is the same. The Scotch acre was about 1.26 of the English, and the Irish 1.62 of the English.
I like that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls
The burial ground, God's acre.
The acre was limited to its present definite quantity by statutes of Edward I., Edward III., and Henry VIII.
Collocations (2)
Broad acres , many acres, much landed estate. [Rhetorical]
God's acre , God's field; the churchyard.