/ɡɹɑːs/, [ɡɹ̠ɑːs], [ɡɹ̠äːs]
OriginFrom Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-West Germanic *gras, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots gress (“grass”), North Frisian gaars, geers, Gērs, gjars, gjas, gäärs (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Cimbrian gras, grass (“grass”), German and Luxembourgish Gras (“grass, weed”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), Mòcheno and Vilamovian gros (“grass”), West Flemish ges (“grass”), Yiddish גראָז (groz, “grass”), Danish græs (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gras, gress (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Gothic 𐌲𐍂𐌰𐍃 (gras, “herb”); also Latin herba (“plant, weed, grass”), Albanian grath (“grass blade, spike”). Related to grow, green.
The "informer" sense is probably a shortening of grasshopper (“police officer, informant”), rhyming slang for copper (“police officer”) or shopper (“informant”); the exact sequence of derivation is unclear.
- countable, uncountableAny 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.
“Thou turnest man to destruction: and sayest, Returne yee children of men. / For a thousand yeeres in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past: and as a watch in the night. / Thou carriest them a”
“The cicale above in the lime, / And the lizards below in the grass, / Were as silent as ever old Tmolus was, / Listening to my sweet pipings.”
“'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 whe”
- countableAny of the various plants that are not in the family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
- uncountableA lawn.
- uncountableThe outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass".
- slang, uncountableMarijuana.
“Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass”
- British, countable, slangAn informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities.
“What just happened must remain secret. Don't be a grass.”
“He was a grass and an arse lick and he didn't do it for him, he did it for his brother, because if Vaughan had hit him especially with his mallet, Mark was the kind of lowlife that would have pressed ”
“Another claimed a £10,000 bounty was put on his head as he was rumoured to be a “grass”.”
- uncountableSharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
- slang, uncountableNoise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display.
“The problem in radar detection is to have a signal to noise ratio that will allow the echo to be seen through the grass on the radar screen. The use of a long pulse allows a greater average signal str”
“Some of the scattered waves can be picked up by the receiver and may show up as "grass" on the radar presentation. Weather radars make use of this phenomenon to chart the progress of storms.”
- countable, uncountableThe season of fresh grass; spring or summer.
- countable, figuratively, obsoleteThat which is transitory.
“The grasse withereth, the flowre fadeth; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth vpon it: surely the people is grasse.”
- countableAsparagus; "sparrowgrass".
“'Have ready a hundred of ſmall graſs boiled, then ſave tops enough to ſtick the rolls with, the reſt cut ſmall and put into the cream, fill the loaves with them.'”
- countableThe surface of a mine.
- transitiveTo lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.).
“The Chicken himself attributed this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by the Larkey one, and heavily grassed.”
“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.”
- intransitive, slang, transitiveTo act as a grass or informer, to betray; to report on (criminals etc) to the authorities.
“"Grassed on me he did," I said morosely. (Note: Grass is English thief slang for inform.)^([sic])”
“"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 t”
- transitiveTo cover with grass or with turf.
- transitiveTo feed with grass.
- transitiveTo expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
- transitiveTo bring to the grass or ground; to land.
“Let him hook and land a tigerfish of 20 lb., at the imminent risk of capsizing and joining the company of the engaging crocodiles, or, when he has grassed the fish, of having a finger bitten off by hi”
“In typical Necker style, the farmer walked to the line and mounted his gun without any shilly-shally. If he grassed the bird, he and Faurote would go into a shootout. If he missed, Faurote would win.”
- A group of languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.
- A surname.
- A township in Spencer County, Indiana, United States, named after pioneer settler Daniel Grass.
Formsgrasses(plural) · grasses(present, singular, third-person) · grassing(participle, present) · grassed(participle, past) · grassed(past) · Grassie(alternative)