An outdoor area where fabrics are spread out and bleached using sunlight and chemicals, or where bleaching materials are stored.
Compound of 'bleach' + 'yard' (from Old English 'geard'). This term reflects pre-industrial methods where bleaching was done outdoors in designated work areas.
Before chemical bleach, people would spread wet fabric across fields in the sun for weeks—the UV rays would naturally whiten it, a process called 'crofting' that's still used in some artisanal textile production!
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