grass
pronunciation
How to pronounce grass in British English:
UK [ɡrɑːs]
How to pronounce grass in American English:
US [ɡræs]
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- Noun:
- narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay
- animal food for browsing or grazing
- street names for marijuana
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- Verb:
- shoot down, of birds
- cover with grass
- spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach
- cover with grass
- feed with grass
- give away information about somebody
Word Origin
- grass
- grass: [OE] Reflecting its status as the commonest and most obvious of plants (and, for agricultural communities, the most important), grass etymologically simply means ‘that which grows’. It comes from *grō-, *gra-, the prehistoric Germanic base which also produced grow (and green). This gave the noun *grasam, from which German and Dutch get gras, Swedish gräs, and English grass.=> graze, green, grow
- grass (n.)
- Old English græs, gærs "herb, plant, grass," from Proto-Germanic grasan (cognates: Old Norse, Old Saxon, Dutch, Old High German, German, Gothic gras, Swedish gräs), from PIE *ghros- "young shoot, sprout," from root *ghre- "to grow, become green" (related to grow and green, but not to Latin gramen). As a color name (especially grass-green, Old English græsgrene) by c. 1300. Sense of "marijuana" is recorded by 1932, American English. The grass skirt worn by people native to tropical regions is mentioned by 1874; the warning to keep off the grass by 1843 (in New York City's Central Park). Grass-fed of cattle, etc., (opposed to stall-fed) is from 1774.
Example
- 1. You like to eat goats as well as grass .
- 2. Wild horses graze on grass from recent rains .
- 3. The idea of fake grass is hardly new .
- 4. The horse was tearing up delicious mouthfuls of new grass .
- 5. Grass roofs filter pollutants and co2 out of the air .