grass

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.

Noun

  1. 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.
    • 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 away as with 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. - a. 1823 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Hymn of Pan”, in Mary...
    • '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...
  2. Any of the various plants that are not in the family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
  3. A lawn.
  4. The outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass".
  5. Marijuana.
    • Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass - 1970, Paul McCartney, “Get Back”, in Let It Be, performed by The Beatles:

    Synonyms: bhang benj boo broccoli bud buddha cannabis cheeba choof daccha dank devil's lettuce djamba doja doobage dope endo gage ganja ganj grass green greenery hash

  6. An 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 charges and then...
    • Another claimed a £10,000 bounty was put on his head as he was rumoured to be a “grass”. - 2023 June 29, Metro, London, page 4, column 1:

    Synonyms: abaddon accuser beefer bewrayer bigmouth blabber blabtale blabtongue canary CI finger fink fizgig gossip grass informant informer jurat leak mole narc nark nonce outer

  7. Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
  8. Noise 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 strength to be...
    • 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. - 1963, Analysis of Weapons,...
  9. The season of fresh grass; spring or summer.

    Synonyms: breakup spring springtime

  10. That which is transitory.
    • The grasse withereth, the flowre fadeth; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth vpon it: surely the people is grasse. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 40:7:

    Synonyms: ephemera

  11. Asparagus; "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.' - 1769, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery made Plain and...
  12. The surface of a mine.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁-der. Proto-Germanic *grasą Proto-West Germanic *gras Old English græs Middle English gras English grass Inherited from 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...

Forms

grasses

Synonyms

grass

Hypernyms

plant

Hyponyms

cereal wheat barley oat brome-grass reed-grass bamboo rice wild rice giant reed common reed lovegrass dropseed finger millet muhly grass panic grass maize sorghum sugar cane most millet fonio bluestem grass pampas grass bunchgrass

Related

Poaceae Poaceae on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Derived

above grass adder's grass after-grass aftergrass Aleppo grass alfa grass alkali grass all cows eat grass Angleton grass annual meadow grass Antarctic hair grass arrowgrass ass in the grass autograss Bahama grass bahia grass bahiagrass bamboo grass barnyard grass basketgrass beachgrass beardgrass beargrass beetle grass

Verb

  1. To 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. - 1846 October 1 – 1848...
    • 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. - 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, published 2005, page 709:

    Synonyms: flatten floor lay low lay out knock down knock out knock over strike down

  2. To 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]) - 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 2:
    • "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...

    Synonyms: bewray blow the whistle clepe denounce dime dime out dob drop a dime drop a dime on someone finger fink fizgig inform inform on grass on grass up lolly up name names nark peach rat on rat out roll on sing

  3. To cover with grass or with turf.
  4. To feed with grass.
  5. To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
  6. To 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 his iron teeth […] -...
    • 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. - 2011, Deeanne...

Forms

grasses grassing grassed

Derived

grasser