virgate (plural virgates)
(historical) The yardland: an obsolete English land measure usually comprising 1/4 of a hide and notionally equal to 30 acres.
The hide was originally intended to represent the amount of land farmed by a single household but was primarily connected to obligations owed to the Saxon and Norman kings and thus varied greatly from place to place. Around the time of the Domesday Book under the Normans, the hide was usually but not always the land expected to produce ÂŁ1 (1 Tower pound of sterling silver) in income over the year, meaning the yardland was expected to produce five shillings (3 Tower ounces of sterling silver). In fact, the yardland became associated with its own obligations and thus also varied, in some places being reckoned as 1/6 of a hide rather than 1/4. Virgate is a later retronym used to distinguish the unit from the yard of 3 feet.
• yardland, yard, yard of land
• (400 virgates) See hundred
• (4 virgates) See carucate
• (1/2 virgate & for Scottish divisions): See oxgang
• (1/4 virgate): See nook
• (1/8 virgate): See fardel
• (various & for further subdivisions): See acre
virgate (comparative more virgate, superlative most virgate)
Rod-shaped: straight, long, and thin, (particularly botany) the habitus of plants with straight, erect branches.
(mycology) Finely striped, often with dark fibers.
• vitrage
Source: Wiktionary
Vir"gate, a. Etym: [L. virgatus made of twigs, fr. virga a twig, rod. See Verge a rod.] (Bot.)
Definition: Having the form of a straight rod; wand-shaped; straight and slender.
Vir"gate, n. Etym: [LL. virgata, virgata terrae, so much land as virga terrae, a land measure, contains, fr. L. virga a twig, rod.]
Definition: A yardland, or measure of land varying from fifteen to forty acres. [Obs.] T. Warton.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
20 June 2025
(adjective) marked by simplicity; having a humble opinion of yourself; “a modest apartment”; “too modest to wear his medals”
Decaffeinated coffee is not caffeine-free. Studies from the National Institute of Health (US) have shown that virtually all decaf coffee types contain caffeine. A 236-ml (8-oz) cup of decaf coffee contains up to 7 mg of caffeine, whereas a regular cup provided 70-140 mg.
