An open area surrounded by walls or buildings within the precincts of a large house, castle, homestead, etc.
1552. Huloet, Courte yarde, platea.
1625. K. Long, trans. Barclay’s Argenis, I. ix. 22. One of the maides passing thorow the Court-yard, returns with report of Poliarchus death.
1779. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 12 Oct. Two immense gates and two court-yards precede the entrance into the dwelling part of the house.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 56. Within the high walls and in the narrow court-yard of a prison.
1869. Trollope, He knew, etc. vii. (1878), 36. Windows looking out behind into a gloomy courtyard.
