steelyard
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A 19th-century steelyard.
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
steel + yard (“enclosed area, rod”).
The sense of “place” is a calque of Dutch staalhof or Middle Low German Stalhof (Modern Dutch staal (“steel”) + hof (“court, yard”)).
The sense of “balance” is presumably from the sense of “place”, originally “steelyard beam”, mixed with additional sense of “rod” (hence “rod for weighing steel”), replacing earlier Latin statera.
Pronunciation
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈstiːljɑːɹd/, /ˈstiːljɚd/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈstiːljɑːd/, /ˈstiːljəd/
- (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈstɪljəɹd/
Noun
steelyard (plural steelyards)
- A transportable balance with unequal arm lengths.
- A place where steel (and possibly other metals as well) is stored and sold.
Translations
steelyard balance
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place where steel is stored and sold
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References
- ^ Jespersen, Otto (1909) A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles (Sammlung germanischer Elementar- und Handbücher; 9), volumes I: Sounds and Spellings, London: George Allen & Unwin, published 1961, § 4.36, page 124.