Acre

a unit customarily used in measuring land. The original meaning of the word is a field, pasture, or hunting ground. The historical acre of England was as much ground as a yoke of oxen could plow in a day. In the thirteenth century the acre was fixed by Parliament at 160 square rods or perches. This is still the legal measure in Great Britain and in America. As compared with this statute acre, the Scotch acre contains 1.27, the Irish acre, 1.62, the Welsh, .89, and the hectare of the metric system, 2.47 acres. A section of land, American survey, contains 640 acres and is one mile square.