dirt yard

plural dirt yards · alternative dirtyard

1. USAn unpaved yard that is kept free of grass and other vegetation.

   Maintaining a communal dirt yard was once routine for black families in the South, and it is also traditional in most West African villages.

   1987, Patricia Jones-Jackson, chapter 1, in When Roots Die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands, Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, page 8

   3 more examples

   Out front was a clean dirt yard with every vestige of grass patiently uprooted and the ground scarred in deep whorls from the strike of Livvie’s broom.

   1943, Eudora Welty, “Livvie”, in The Wide Net and Other Stories, New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., page 156

   One summer morning, after I had swept the dirt yard of leaves, spearmint-gum wrappers and Vienna-sausage labels, I raked the yellow-red dirt, and made half-moons carefully, so that the design stood out clearly and mask-like.

   1969, Maya Angelou, chapter 5, in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, New York: Bantam, published 1971, page 23

   Outside, the familiar darkness disturbed by smog and the distant grumble of dysfunctional Trabants, an empty dirtyard facing the rump of a low, gray municipal building, the only illumination provided by the light trailing from the bar’s open door.

   2002, Gary Shteyngart, chapter 35, in The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, New York: Riverhead Books, page 419