- in its earliest known use in Scots, a park was an enclosed area of land, often woodland or forest, where animals were kept for hunting. In later use the word developed other meanings including 'meadowland, pasture land' and 'lands set aside for recreation'.
Place-names incorporating the term park often include terms for local plants or animals – there are several Broomparks and Deerparks. Also typical are names like Park End in Ayrshire and Park Foot in Stirlingshire, denoting the more southerly or lower end of a park, and there are Parkheads, denoting the northern or higher end of a park, in Aberdeenshire and Lanarkshire.