vineyard

IPA/ˈvɪnjəd/
KK[vˈɪnjɚd]IPA/ˈvɪnjərd/

vineyard — noun

  • vineyardsingular
  • vineyardsplural

1. an area of land where rows of vines are planted and tended so that their grapes

1.nounB2
Definition

an area of land where rows of vines are planted and tended so that their grapes can be turned into wine.

Example

Tariq's family runs a small vineyard on the sunny hills above the village.

common pattern: [someone]'s vineyard

Each autumn, dozens of workers walk through the vineyard cutting clusters of ripe grapes by hand.

typical context: harvest in a vineyard

Common collocations
  • work in a vineyard
  • own a vineyard
  • rows of the vineyard
  • a hillside vineyard
Synonyms
  • wine estate

    broader — covers the vineyard plus the winery and buildings

  • winery

    the place where wine is made; not the field of vines itself

  • grape farm

    plainer, more general term; covers grapes for eating as well as wine

Grammar Patterns

a vineyard in/near [place]

[someone]'s vineyard

Usage Note

Subject is usually a place phrase or a possessive (a family, a region, an owner). Often paired with wine, grapes, harvest, or the name of a country or hillside.

Common Mistakes

My uncle works in a vineyard factory.
My uncle works at a vineyard.
a vineyard is the field itself, not a factory; the wine factory is called a winery.
We saw many vineyards of apples in the valley.
We saw many apple orchards in the valley.
vineyard is only for grapevines; fruit-tree fields are orchards.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A vineyard is specifically the field where grapevines grow; you stand among the rows, not indoors. A winery is the building or business where those grapes are pressed, fermented, and bottled — a vineyard supplies a winery, but the two are not the same place. A wine estate is the larger property that includes both the vineyard and the winery, often along with a tasting room or a house; the word sounds slightly grander and is common in marketing. An orchard, by contrast, is a field of fruit trees such as apples, peaches, or oranges — never grapevines. So you visit a vineyard to see the vines, a winery to see how the wine is made, a wine estate to do both, and an orchard for fruit picking.

vineyard ↗winery ↗wine estateorchard ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

  • vineyard owner
  • vineyard worker
  • vineyard tour
  • hillside vineyard
  • family vineyard

Phrases

  • rows of vines in the vineyard
  • work the vineyard
  • tour a vineyard

Prepositions

  • in a vineyard
  • at a vineyard
  • through the vineyard

Etymology

LatinOld EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

Vineyard goes back to Old English wīngeard, made from wīn 'wine' (a word English borrowed early from Latin vinum) and geard 'enclosed piece of land, yard'. Around the Middle English period the spelling shifted toward 'vine-' under the influence of the French-derived word vine, giving us the modern form. The meaning has stayed remarkably stable for over a thousand years: a fenced piece of land set aside for growing grapes.