grass

grass^¹

/ɡɹɑːs/
[ɡɹ̠ɑːs] UK
[ɡɹ̠äːs] Australia, New Zealand
[ɡɹ̠ɐːs] Australia, New Zealand
/ɡɹæs/
[ɡɹ̠æs] Canada, US
[ɡɹ̠ɛəs] Canada, US
[ɡɹ̠eəs] Canada, US
[ɡɹ̠as] Ireland, Northern England
[ɡɹ̠äs] Ireland, Northern England
[ɡɹ̠ɛəs]

Rhymes with -ɑːs, -æs

Where it comes from

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 (“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.

noun grasses

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. 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 flood, they are as a sleepe: in the morning they are like grasse which groweth vp. / I
countable Any of the various plants that are not in the family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
uncountable A lawn.
uncountable The outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass".
slang, uncountable Marijuana. Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass
UK, countable, slang An informer; snitch, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities. What just happened must remain secret. Don't be a grass.
uncountable Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
slang, uncountable 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 returned in the target echoes.
countable, uncountable The season of fresh grass; spring or summer.
countable, figuratively, obsolete That which is transitory. The grasse withereth, the flowre fadeth; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth vpon it: surely the people is grasse.
countable 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.'
countable The surface of a mine.

Similar: grass

verb grasses · grassing · grassed

transitive 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.
intransitive, slang, transitive 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])
transitive To cover with grass or with turf.
transitive To feed with grass.
transitive To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
transitive 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 […]

Grass^²

proper noun

A group of languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.

Grass^³

proper noun Grassie

A surname.
A township in Spencer County, Indiana, United States, named after pioneer settler Daniel Grass.

AI In plain words

grass¹