Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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OED: tennis had a court in 1519;
[Early ME. curt, court, a. OF. cort, curt, later court (from 15th c. cour) = Pr. cort, Sp. and It. corte: rt-em (nom. cohors, cors, in med.L. cortis, curtis) court, poultry-yard, yard, enclosure, also company of soldiers (COHORT), crowd of attendants, retinue. At an early date the French word appears to have been associated with L. c ria is the regular med.L. equivalent.]
I. An enclosed area, a yard.
1. a. A clear space enclosed by walls or surrounded by buildings; a yard, a court-yard; e.g. that surrounding a castle, or that left for the sake of light, etc. in the centre of a large building or mass of buildings; formerly also a farm-yard, poultry-yard. At Cambridge, the usual name for a college quadrangle. a1300
of the vast courts into which these gateways opened were spacious mansions.
b. Each of the uncovered enclosures surrounding the Jewish tabernacle, and constituting the temple area round the fane or sanctuary on Mount Moriah. [Vulg. atrium.]
1535 COVERDALE Ps. lxiv. 4 Blessed is the man whom thou chosest..that he may
2. a. A large building or set of buildings standing in a court-yard; a large house or castle. In early times applied to a manorial house; = BURY. Obs.
1297
b. Often in proper names of English manor-houses, e.g. Hampton Court, Tottenham Court.
4. An enclosed quadrangular area, uncovered or covered, with a smooth level floor, in which tennis, rackets, or fives are played; the plot of ground marked out for lawn-tennis; also applied to each of the quadrangular divisions marked on such grounds. (See TENNIS-COURT, etc.)
1519 in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII (Brewer) III. 11, The tennis court at Richmond.