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vara — meaning in English

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English meaning

  • ell noun An old unit of length, roughly the distance from elbow to fingertip, historically around 45 inches in England.
  • herd noun A large group of animals of one kind that live, feed, or move together.
  • pole noun A long, slender piece of wood or metal used for support or construction.
  • rod noun A straight, thin bar, stick, or pole made of wood, metal, or similar material.
  • shaft noun A long, narrow, straight part of a tool, weapon, or machine — such as a handle, pole, or rotating rod that transmits power.
  • stick noun A thin piece of wood, especially a fallen branch or twig.
  • switch noun A device used to turn an electrical circuit on or off.

Senses

vara is used for these senses in English:

  • ell (historical) A measure of length. An English ell was 1¼ yards (45 inches or 114 cm), a Scottish ell was about 37 inches (94 cm), a Flemish ell was ¾ yard (27 inches or 69 cm), while certain European ells were less than 50 cm.
  • herd A number of domestic animals assembled together under the watch or ownership of a keeper. [from 11th c.]
  • rod A stick, pole, or bundle of switches or twigs (such as a birch), used for personal defense or to administer corporal punishment by whipping.
  • rod An implement held vertically and viewed through an optical surveying instrument such as a transit, used to measure distance in land surveying and construction layout; an engineer's rod, surveyor's rod, surveying rod, leveling rod, ranging rod. The modern (US) engineer's or surveyor's rod commonly is eight or ten feet long and often designed to extend higher. In former times a surveyor's rod often was a single wooden pole or composed of multiple sectioned and socketed pieces, and besides serving as a sighting target was used to measure distance on the ground horizontally, hence for convenience was of one rod or pole in length, that is, 5+1⁄2 yards.
  • shaft (anatomy) The main cylindrical part of the penis.
  • stick A relatively long, thin piece of wood, of any size.
  • switch A slender woody plant stem used as a whip; a thin, flexible rod, associated with corporal punishment in the United States.

ell — full definition

  1. noun An old unit of length, roughly the distance from elbow to fingertip, historically around 45 inches in England.
  2. noun A wing of a building set at a right angle to the main structure, so it forms an L-shape.

herd — full definition

  1. noun A large group of animals of one kind that live, feed, or move together.
  2. verb To gather, drive, or guide people or animals together as a group.

Related Portuguese words