cloth yard

noun

1. a unit of measure for cloth, formerly 37 inches (0.93 meter), now the equivalent of the standard yard (0.91 meter); 36 inches; 3 feet.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cloth yard¹

late Middle English word dating back to 1425–75

Example Sentences

The bow string was the length of the old cloth yard�27� in., and it took 80 pounds of pulling power, and much skill to draw one of the 5� -ft. steel-tipped arrows, also of yew, to the head of the bow.

From Time Magazine Archive

A crash! a benumbing twinge from finger's tips to shoulder;—a blow, as from a hammer, on the shield;—the steeds stand up and paw the air madly, as does a man when struggling in the waters;—my helm's plumes do bend before mine eyes;—and when the particles of sand are borne aside by the gentle broom of Nature I hold in my gauntlet's grasp only a cloth yard's length of shivered spear.

From Project Gutenberg

The largest ones, however, were six feet long, and as the arrow was always half the length of the bow, the longest arrows measured three feet, which is just a cloth yard.

From Project Gutenberg

Of course the genuine account, given in Froissart, is very different; but the ballad-singer knows his art; and whereas from history we only learn that a Scottish knight, Sir Hugh Montgomery, was slain in the medley, in the ballad an English archer draws his bow 'An arrow of a cloth yard long To the hard head hayled he.'

From Project Gutenberg

It was heavy in itself, and made more so by the wet, so that the little girl had to set her foot against a stone in the wall, and employ all her strength, before she could land the cloth, yard after yard, upon the wall.

From Project Gutenberg