acre

Everyday

1. An acre is a unit for measuring the size of a piece of land. A big farm field can be many acres. tree →
2. Acres can mean a lot of land: «acres of forest». tree →

In the lessons

a unit of area for fields, farms and gardens; problems give acres planted, acres per day or crops per acre; used mostly in the USA, the UK and Canada, while other places use hectares; phrases: «N acres of», «per acre», «each acre»

Examples

• A farmer plants corn on 12 acres. tree →
• Each acre gives 30 bushels of wheat. tree →
• Tom plows 4 acres a day. tree →
• The park covers 25 acres. tree →
• A football field is a bit more than one acre. tree →
• The ranch has hundreds of acres of grass. tree →
• The fire burned 50 acres of forest. tree →
• How many acres can he plow in 5 days? tree →
• The rich man's broad acres and the cottager's small garden patch were equally blighted. tree →

Note

A unit, not a thing counted; with «per acre» or «each acre» it marks a rate, so the total is often rate × acres. Trap: do not add acres to bushels or trees. «an acre» (vowel sound first).

In Jewish tradition

An old measure of land; the Hebrew word is a "yoke," meaning the land a pair of oxen could plough in a day. In the primary lessons: a unit of area for fields, farms and gardens; problems give acres planted, acres per day or crops per acre; used mostly in the USA, the UK and Canada, while other places use hectares; phrases: «N acres of», «per acre», «each acre»

Examples

• For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah. (Prophets ISA.5.10, JPS 1917) tree →
• And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armour-bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land. (Prophets 1SA.14.14, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

A unit, not a thing counted; with «per acre» or «each acre» it marks a rate, so the total is often rate × acres. Trap: do not add acres to bushels or trees. «an acre» (vowel sound first).