Editing Yard (section)

==Equivalences==
For purposes of measuring cloth, the early yard was divided by the binary method into two, four, eight and sixteen parts.<ref name="The statutes at large-1726">{{cite book|title=The statutes at large|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZaRFAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA631|year=1763|page=631}}</ref> The two most common divisions were the fourth and sixteenth parts. The quarter of a yard (9 inches) was known as the "quarter" without further qualification, while the sixteenth of a yard (2.25 inches) was called a [[Nail (unit)|nail]].<ref name="Arnold1850">{{cite book|author=Charles Arnold|title=The boy's arithmetic|url=https://archive.org/details/boysarithmetic00arnogoog|year=1850|page=[https://archive.org/details/boysarithmetic00arnogoog/page/n62 54]}}</ref> The eighth of a yard (4.5 inches) was sometimes called a [[Finger (unit)|finger]],<ref name="The Encyclopedia Americana">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopedia Americana|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BagrAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA165|year=1920|publisher=Encyclopedia Americana Corp.|page=165}}</ref> but was more commonly referred to simply as an eighth of a yard, while the half-yard (18 inches) was called "half a yard".<ref name="Instructions for cutting">{{cite book|title=Instructions for cutting out apparel for the poor|url=https://archive.org/details/b2875606x|year=1789|publisher=Sold by J. Walter|page=[https://archive.org/details/b2875606x/page/53 53]}}</ref>

Other units related to the yard, but not specific to cloth measurement: two yards are a [[fathom]] and a quarter of a yard (when not referring to cloth) is a [[span (unit)|span]].<ref name="Steen1846">{{cite book|author=Isaiah Steen|title=A treatise on mental arithmetic, in theory and practice|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wDAEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA9|year=1846|page=9}}</ref>