turbary

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English turbarie, from Anglo-Norman turberie and its etymon Medieval Latin turbāria, from turba (“turf”), from Proto-West Germanic *turb; compare turf.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɜː(ɹ)bəɹi/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Noun

turbary (countable and uncountable, plural turbaries)

1. A piece of peatland from which turf may be cut for fuel.
   • 1970, Heðin Brú, translated by John F. West, The Old Man and his Sons, Telegram, published 2011, page 161:

     ‘But remember this, it doesn't pay to set yourself against me, because I own both the infield and the turbary in the village, and without my leave, you'll get neither milk nor fuel.’

2. Material extracted from a turbary.
3. The right to cut turf from a turbary on a common or in some cases, another person's land.
   • 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:

     It seemed to have been generally understood that the lord could not approve, where the commoners had a right of turbary, piscary, of digging sand, or of taking any species of estovers upon the common.

Usage notes

The third sense is more fully expressed legally as common of turbary.

Hypernyms

• (right) profit à prendre

Translations

piece of peatland

• Finnish: turpeennostopaikka

material

• Finnish: turve (fi)

right

• Finnish: turpeennosto-oikeus