graze
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡɹeɪz/
homophone: grays
homophone: greys
rhymes: -eɪz
Forms: form: grazes
form: grazing
form: grazed
form: grazed
Etymology: From Old English grasian (“to feed on grass”), from græs (“grass”).
Senses: examples: text: He hath a Houſe and Barn in repair, a Field or two to graze his Cows, with a Garden and Orchard.
ref: 1732 March 6 (Gregorian calendar; date written), [Jonathan Swift], Considerations upon Two Bills Sent Down from the R[ight] H[onourable] the H[ouse] of L[ords] to the H[onoura]ble H[ouse] of C[ommons of Ireland] Relating to the Clergy of I[relan]d, London: […] A. Moore, […], published 1732, →OCLC, page 24:
text: Although it is perfectly good meadowland, none of the villagers has ever grazed animals on the meadow on the other side of the wall.
ref: 1999, Neil Gaiman, Stardust:
glosses: To feed or supply (cattle, sheep, etc.) with grass; to furnish pasture for.
examples: text: Cattle graze in the meadows.
text: The lambs vvith vvolves ſhall graze the verdant mead, / And boys in flovv'ry bands the tyger lead; […]
ref: 1712 (date written), Alexander Pope, “Messiah. A Sacred Eclogue, in Imitation of Virgil’s Pollio.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope Esq. […], volume I, London: […] J[ohn] and P[aul] Knapton, H. Lintot, J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, and S. Draper, published 1751, →OCLC, page 41, lines 77–78:
text: The bird [Canada goose] is more often found on land than other waterfowl because of its love for seeds and grains. The long neck is well adapted for grazing.
ref: 1993, John Montroll, Origami Inside-Out, page 41:
glosses: To feed on; to eat (growing herbage); to eat grass from (a pasture)
examples: text: Shylock: When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
glosses: To tend (cattle, etc.) while grazing.
examples: text: Furthermore, people who take the time to sit down to proper meals find their food more satisfying than people who graze throughout the day. If you skip meals, you will inevitably end up snacking on more high-fat high-sugar foods.
ref: 2008, Mohgah Elsheikh, Caroline Murphy, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome:
text: Many people, however, snack and graze from roughly the time they wake up until shortly before they go to bed.
ref: 2018 July 24, Anahad O’Connor, “When We Eat, or Don’t Eat, May Be Critical for Health”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
coordinate_terms: snack
glosses: To eat small amounts of food periodically throughout the day, rather than at fixed mealtimes, often not in response to hunger.
examples: text: Grazing refers to customers who consume food items before paying for them, for example, a customer bags one and a half pounds of grapes in the produce department, eats some as she continues her shopping […]
ref: 1992, Shoplifting, page 18:
text: Had the Grievant attempted to pay for the Mylanta or actually paid for it, then she would not be guilty of grazing or shoplifting.
ref: 2001, Labor Arbitration Information System, volume 2, page 59:
glosses: To shoplift by consuming food or drink items before reaching the checkout.
examples: text: the bullet grazed the wall
text: But in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship’s direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter XXIII, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
synonyms: glance
glosses: To rub or touch lightly the surface of (a thing) in passing.
examples: text: to graze one's knee
glosses: To cause a slight wound to; to scratch.
examples: text: The sewers must be kept so as the water may not stay too long in the spring; for then the ground continueth the wet, whereby it will never graze to purpose that year.
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
glosses: To yield grass for grazing.
Derived terms: Earth-grazing
grazable
grazeable
grazeland
grazer
grazing fire
nongrazed
overgraze
regraze
undergraze
undergrazed
ungrazed