Etymology Early Modern English laune (“turf, grassy area”), alteration of laund (“glade”), from Middle English launde, from Old French lande (“heath, moor”), of Germanic or Gaulish origin, from Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”) or Proto-Celtic *landā, both from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“land, heath”). Akin to Breton lann (“heath”), Old Norse & Old English land. Doublet of land and lande.
1
Ground (generally in front of or around a house) covered with grass kept closely mown.
Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path[…]. It twisted and turned,[…]and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. And, back of the lawn, was a big, old-fashioned house, with piazzas stretching in front of it, and all blazing with lights. 'Twas the house I'd seen the roof of from the beach.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
(1) Higher rates for land uses which are a significant source of nutrient inputs to the Lakes, eg. turf farms. Or again, other things equal, high density housing with less lawn would be preferred to estates with medium density and rates structure could be adjusted accordingly.1998, Contemporary Issues in Australian Economics, page 108:
Etymology Early Modern English laune (“turf, grassy area”), alteration of laund (“glade”), from Middle English launde, from Old French lande (“heath, moor”), of Germanic or Gaulish origin, from Proto-Germanic *landą (“land”) or Proto-Celtic *landā, both from Proto-Indo-European *lendʰ- (“land, heath”). Akin to Breton lann (“heath”), Old Norse & Old English land. Doublet of land and lande.
1
To furnish with a lawn.
By opening all the arches of the several apartments […], by lawning the area within, and by a judicious use of ivy where any blank spaces require to be broken, or any deformities concealed, this might be made a beautiful and singular scene; […]1827, An Historical, Antiquarian, and Picturesque Account of Kirkstall Abbey, page 170:
lawn
noun
Etymology Apparently from Laon, a French town known for its linen manufacturing, from Old French Lan, from Latin Laudunum, a Celtic name cognate with Lugdunum.
1
A type of thin linen or cotton fabric tightly woven of fine threads. (Traditionally expensive and luxurious in centuries past.)
Two hundred Sempſtreſſes were employed to make me Shirts, and Linen for Bed and Table, all of the ſtrongeft and coarſeſt kind they could get; which, however, they were forced to quilt together in ſeveral Folds, for the thickeſt was ſome degrees finer than Lawn.1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “Of the Inhabitants of Lilliput; […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume I, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part I (A Voyage to Lilliput), pages 107–108:
The stream had trickled over her chin and stained the purity of her lawn death robe.1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC:
1 more example
He looked through the glass at the fire, set it down on the end of the desk and wiped his lips with a sheer lawn handkerchief.1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 144:
2
In plural Pieces of this fabric, especially as used for the sleeves of a bishop.
[…] she was as the wild yoncopin to the calla lily. Marjie knew how to dress. To-day, shaded by the buggy-top, in her dainty light blue lawn, with the soft pink of her cheeks and her clear white brow and throat, she was a most delicious thing […]1910, Margaret Hill McCarter, The Price of the Prairie: