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A shrubbery is a wide border to a garden where shrubs are thickly planted; or a similar larger area with a path winding through it.

This is a sentence from wikipedia: shrubbery. I do not quite understand it.

Does this sentence mean this? A shrubbery is a wide border to a garden, and that garden is thickly planted with shrubs. A shrubbery is also a wide border to a larger area (similar to a garden), and that area has a path winding through it.

So shrubbery is a border? But OALD says that shrubbery is an area planted with shrubs instead of a border.

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note wide border. A border 2m wide running 10m long is 20m^2 area. A border doesn't have to be a line of zero width - it can be a strip of varying thickness, covering a considerable area. – SF. Jan 4 at 14:38
I think your confusion comes from parsing the definition as a wide border to (a garden where shrubs are thickly planted) - this is wrong. The shrubbery is where the shrubs are thickly planted. See also nunnery and piggery. – Kate Gregory Jan 4 at 17:57
-1 Wikipedia says: A shrubbery is a wide border to a garden where shrubs are thickly planted; or a similar larger area with a path winding through it. Also, "A shrubbery[2] was a collection of hardy shrubs, quite distinct from a flower garden, which was a cutting garden ... "; "The shrubbery is a style of pleasure-garden" – Kris Jan 6 at 11:56

closed as general reference by Bill Franke, FumbleFingers, Hellion, cornbread ninja 麵包忍者, Barrie England Jan 4 at 17:25

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1 Answer

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an area in a garden planted with shrubs

Source: ODO

Update: It appears that shrubbery indeed refers to an area in a garden planted with shrubs and not a border.

Here are some examples from COCAE:

1) ... and the rain has been falling since dawn, darkening the shrubbery and muddying the grass.
2) ... pointing to several small green plants among the shrubbery.
3) ... he hid his papers under shrubbery and walked in sullenly.
4) ... and thick stands of shrubbery shield birds from cold, wind, rain and snow.

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Well, the area so planted might be a border. – Andrew Leach Jan 4 at 15:07
What @Andrew said. Imho, a shrubbery is almost always a border, since you rarely have one actually in the middle of a garden. In fact, they're usually at the bottom of the garden - if you go through the shrubbery you'll normally come up against a wall or fence marking the end of the property. – FumbleFingers Jan 4 at 15:33
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@FumbleFingers Just because it often is doesn't automatically mean it always is. A shrubbery is an area planted with shrubs, that area might be a border or it might be a square or it might be a circle or it might be completely irregular! – spiceyokooko Jan 4 at 15:54
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@spiceyokooko: I didn't say it's always a "border" - I said it usually is. And I said it because Inglish Teeture's answer currently says a shrubbery is not a border, which is manifestly untrue. – FumbleFingers Jan 4 at 16:02
@FumbleFingers I disagree. The term shrubbery does not refer to a border. It can be used as a border but that's not the intended meaning of the term shrubbery. Therefore Inglish Teeture stating that shrubbery is not a border is quite correct, in my opinion. Pendantic maybe, but no less so than anyone else here. – spiceyokooko Jan 4 at 16:09
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