to swill the yard down

[Ostap]

Hello, I ran across a definition of "swill" in the Longman Dictionary, meaning "to wash something by pouring a lot of water over it or into it". And there's this example:

Get a bucket to swill the yard down.

How should I understand this?

 

[5jj]

Get a bucket of water and pour the water into the yard to wash it clean.

 

[Ostap]

Get a bucket of water and pour the water into the yard to wash it clean.

To wash the land around your house? Do I correctly understand?

 

[probus]

It would be useless to try to wash land, but some yards are paved and the paving can be washed.

 

[emsr2d2]

I would say that "yard" (AmE) here either means "backyard/patio" (BrE) or perhaps the yard where horses are stabled.

 

[Ostap]

Thank you.
And one more related question. Some examples on "swill":

He swilled his brandy gently round his glass.
He swilled the juice around in his glass.
She swilled the whisky around in her glass.

Does the above mean you jiggle the glass while holding it in your hand?

 

[probus]

In all of those examples I would use "swirl" rather than "swill". At least in AmE the commonest usage of swill is as a noun for pig fodder composed of waste food. It is stinky disgusting stuff and has very negative connotations.

 

[Ostap]

In all of those examples I would use "swirl" rather than "swill". At least in AmE the commonest usage of swill is as a noun for pig fodder composed of waste food. It is stinky disgusting stuff and has very negative connotations.

And whether you 'swill' or 'swirl', it's always by shaking/jiggling the glass/container in your hand rather than, e.g. by using a spoon, right?

 

[Tarheel]

Yes. Gently.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's more like making a circular (horizontal) motion with your hand while holding the glass, whilst occasionally tilting the glass a little so that some of the liquid comes up the sides of the glass (but not all the way to the top).

 

[Rover_KE]

To wash the land around your house? Do I correctly understand?

Note that AE speakers frequently say 'yard' when BE speaker would only say 'garden'.

 

[SoothingDave]

In AmE, a "yard" is grass. A yard isn't paved.

 

[emsr2d2]

In AmE, a "yard" is grass. A yard isn't paved.

What do you call it when it's not grass?

 

[Tarheel]

Dirt.

 

[emsr2d2]

Dirt.

I meant when it's paved. What would you call the area outside your house, with a fence round it, that's completely paved?

 

[Tarheel]

A patio.

 

[SoothingDave]

I meant when it's paved. What would you call the area outside your house, with a fence round it, that's completely paved?

I have never seen someone who has their entire outside property paved. A paved (and usually covered) portion is a patio.

 

[Skrej]

In some cases (particularly in highly arid areas), people landscape with rocks and gravel instead of grass to reduce water usage, but I still wouldn't consider the entire yard 'paved'. I've seen examples of where much or even a majority of the backyard is paved, but never the entire thing. It's still a patio, even if it takes up the majority of the outside space.

Edit: I googled 'paved backyards', and all the images I've seen so far that appear to be 100% covered are from UK sites. Maybe this is a cultural difference. US yards generally leave at least some grass, unless again it's in a desert climate where gravel replaces grass.

I obviously can't say you'll never see the entire thing covered here in the US, but it's very rare.

 

[SoothingDave]

https://www.bing.com/images/search?...of+beer&form=IGRE&first=1&tsc=ImageBasicHover

I originally thought this thread was going to be about swilling down a yard of beer.

 

[probus]

In AmE, a "yard" is grass. A yard isn't paved.

It's a rare day indeed when I disagree with SoothingDave. Our former townhouse in central Toronto had a small backyard paved with interlock. I imagine many large North Anerican cities have similar townhomes. I can think of a few others in Toronto itself.