grass

See also: Grass

English

Etymology

From Middle English gras, gres, gers, from Old English græs, gærs (“grass, blade of grass, herb, young corn, hay, plant; pasture”), from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”).

cognates

Cognate with Scots girs, gers, gress (“grass”), North Frisian gäärs, geers (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Low German Gras (“grass”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), German Gras (“grass, weed”), Danish græs (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gress (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), Latin herba (“plant, weed, grass”), Albanian grath (“grass blade, spike”). Related to grow, green.

Pronunciation

Noun
Grass.

grass (countable and uncountable, plural grasses)

  1. (countable, uncountable) Any plant of the family Poaceae, characterized by leaves that arise from nodes in the stem and leaf bases that wrap around the stem, especially those grown as ground cover rather than for grain.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
  2. (countable) Various plants not in family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
  3. (uncountable) A lawn.
  4. (uncountable, slang) Marijuana.
  5. (countable, Britain, slang) An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities.
  6. (uncountable, physics) Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
  7. (uncountable, slang) Noise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display.
  8. The season of fresh grass; spring.
    • (Can we date this quote?), Latham, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      two years old next grass
  9. (obsolete, figuratively) That which is transitory.
    • Bible Is. xl. 7
      Surely the people is grass.
  10. (countable, folk etymology) Asparagus.

Synonyms

Derived terms
Terms derived from grass (noun)

Descendants

Translations

See also

Verb

grass (third-person singular simple present grasses, present participle grassing, simple past and past participle grassed)

  1. (transitive) To lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.).
    • 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, published 2005, page 709:
      He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grass him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand of him.
  2. (transitive or intransitive, slang) To act as a grass or informer, to betray; to report on (criminals etc) to the authorities.
    • 2004, David Nobbs, Sex and Other Changes‎, page 95:
      "I'm dressed as a woman, but I am still technically a man. I believe that to comply with the law of the land I ought to continue to use the Gents', but in order not to look out place I intend to use the Ladies' from now on. I trust none of you will grass on me..."
  3. (transitive) To cover with grass or with turf.
  4. (transitive) To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
  5. (transitive) To bring to the grass or ground; to land.
    to grass a fish

Synonyms

Translations

Cimbrian

Noun

grass m

  1. (Luserna, Thirteen Communities) grass

References
  • Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Romansch

Etymology

From Latin crassus. Compare French graisse.

Noun

grass m

  1. fat
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