acre

acre
\ \ [OE] Acre is a word of ancient ancestry, going back probably to the Indo-European base *ag-, source of words such as agent and act. This base had a range of meanings covering ‘do’ and ‘drive’, and it is possible that the notion of driving contributed to the concept of driving animals on to land for pasture. However that may be, it gave rise to a group of words in Indo- European languages, including Latin ager (whence English agriculture), Greek agros, Sanskrit ájras, and a hypothetical Germanic *akraz. By this time, people’s agricultural activities had moved on from herding animals in open country to tilling the soil in enclosed areas, and all of this group of words meant specifically ‘field’. From the Germanic form developed Old English æcer, which as early as 1000 AD had come to be used for referring to a particular measured area of agricultural land (as much as a pair of oxen could plough in one day).
\ \ Cf.⇒ ACT, AGENT, AGRICULTURE, EYRIE, ONAGER, PEREGRINE, PILGRIM

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • acre — acre …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • ACRE — (Heb. עַכּוֹ, Acco, Akko; Ar. ﻋَﻜﺎَّ ʿAkkā; Ptolemais; St. Jean d Acre) coastal city in northern Israel situated on a promontory at the northern end of the Bay of Haifa, 14 mi. (23 km.) north of Haifa, in the Acre Coastal Plain. Ancient Acre… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • ACRE — ou AKKA Ville et port de Palestine, qui apparaît dans l’Ancien Testament sous le nom de ‘Acco et au temps des Ptolémées d’Égypte sous celui de Ptolemaïs, époque où elle connut une certaine prospérité. Conquise par les Arabes en 636, elle fut… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Acre — • Syrian seaport on the Mediterranean • Also called Saint Jean d Acre Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Acre     Acre      …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • âcre — ÂCRE. adj. des 2. g. Qui a quelque chose de piquant, de mordicant, de corrosif, etc. Une bile âcre. Il lui tomba une humeur âcre sur les yeux. Une pituite âcre. Le suc de cette herbe est âcre. Cela est âcre au goût, est d un goût âcre …   Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française 1798

  • acre — acre; acre·age; acre·man; mil·acre; staves·acre; wise·acre; con·acre; …   English syllables

  • Acre — A cre, n. [OE. aker, AS. [ae]cer; akin to OS. accar, OHG. achar, Ger. acker, Icel. akr, Sw. [*a]ker, Dan. ager, Goth. akrs, L. ager, Gr. ?, Skr. ajra. [root]2, 206.] 1. Any field of arable or pasture land. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] 2. A piece of land …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • acre — s. m. Medida agrária usada em alguns países com valores diferentes (o acre inglês e americano equivalem a 40,47 ares).   ‣ Etimologia: inglês acre acre adj. 2 g. 1. Cujo sabor é amargo, picante e corrosivo. = ACRO, AGRE 2. Cujo cheiro é forte e… …   Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa

  • acre — adjetivo 1. [Sabor, olor] que es fuerte y picante: Cuando hay un escape de gas hay un olor muy acre en toda la casa. 2. Que es muy desagradable y hostil: crítica acre, humor acre. sustantivo masculino 1 …   Diccionario Salamanca de la Lengua Española

  • Acre — [ eikə] der; s, s , (aber: 5 ) <aus engl. acre, eigtl. »Acker«> engl. u. nordamerik. Flächenmaß (etwa 4 047 m2) …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • acre — (n.) O.E. æcer tilled field, open land, from P.Gmc. *akraz field, pasture (Cf. O.N. akr, O.S. akkar, O.Fris. ekker, M.Du. acker, Du. akker, O.H.G. achar, Ger. acker, Goth. akrs), from PIE *agro field ( …   Etymology dictionary

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