yurt

plural yurts

1. A large, round, semi-permanent tent with vertical walls and a conical roof, usually associated with Central Asia and Mongolia (where it is known as a ger).

   Northeast of the center's main group of yurts is a new neighbor—the Spruce Hole Yurt—operated by Cumbres Nordic Adventures. This yurt is easy to get to, affords scenic views, and serves up classic touring terrain.

   2000, Brian Litz, “San Juan Mountains”, in Colorado Hut to Hut. Volume 2: Southern Region, volume 2, Englewood, Colo.: Westcliffe Publishers, →ISBN, page 55

   5 more examples

   [T]heir [the Nogais'] cattle grazed on the Little Injik, only seven versts from the boundary line. In summer they kept them in the Black Mountains, and in winter at their auls. They lived in felt yurts, and often changed their place of abode.

   1880, Henry H[oyle] Howorth, “The Nogais, Karakalpaks, and Siberian Tartars”, in History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century. Part II. The So-called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia, part II, division II, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 1026

   Gervasius and Borodijin rode on to reconnoitre. As my caravan entered the strip of pasture fringing the shore I saw my people in conversation with Sarts by a yurt at the north-east corner of the lake. They soon returned with the information that the whole neighbourhood, which included Kala Otlak and Bulag Bashi, was known as Dakherukta. There was no tura, but two or three miles off to the west there lived a wealthy Sart who was at the moment away from home attending a wedding at some friends of his. The festivities were taking place on the farther side of the northern mountains.

   1939, Wilhelm Filchner, “Issik Pakhta—The Sarts—Good-bye to Borodijin”, in E. O. Lorimer, transl., A Scientist in Tartary: from the Hoang-ho to the Indus, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC, pages 211–212

   Who would have imagined that the circular, skin-covered, pole-framed tents used by Mongolian nomads would find another life in the Colorado backcountry? The Mongols might be surprised if they could see how their portable structures have been improved and put to use in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. […] About halfway to the [Neff Mountain] yurt, the trail makes an uphill switchback and passes the bottom of a big, open bowl.

   1994 February, Andrew Stiny, “Yurts of the San Juans: Ski and Camp in the Colorado/New Mexico High Country, Mongolian Style”, in Backpacker: The Magazine of Wilderness Travel, volume 22, number 129(1), Emmaus, Pa.: Rodale, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 70

   The principal dwelling of the nomadic Kazakhs, the circular, felt-covered yurt is a potent image of Kazakh culture. Few Kazakhs now live in yurts, although they are still used by some pastoralists who still move their herds into summer mountain pastures. […] But the imagery of the yurt remains central to Kazakh ethnic identity, and provides national cultural symbolism deployed by the authorities of independent Kazakhstan.

   2008 August, Paul Brummell, “Background Information”, in Kazakhstan: The Bradt Travel Guide, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire: Bradt Travel Guides, →ISBN, page 17

   I saw the first round white roofs of yurts, or gers as they are called in Mongolian. Yurt is Russian, and all that is Russian is now on the outer in Mongolia. If you said yurt, Mongolians looked at you as though you had uttered a dirty word.

   2010, Lydia Laube, Slow Boat to Mongolia, Kent Town, South Australia: Wakefield Press, →ISBN

   Synonyms: ger, kibitka

plural yurts

1. historicalThe natural resources and arable land over which a Cossack stanitsa had exclusive control in their territory.