grass
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: gräs
ipa: /ɡɹɑːs/
ipa: [ɡɹ̠ɑːs]
ipa: [ɡɹ̠äːs]
ipa: [ɡɹ̠ɐːs]
rhymes: -ɑːs
enpr: grăs
ipa: /ɡɹæs/
ipa: [ɡɹ̠æs]
ipa: [ɡɹ̠ɛəs]
ipa: [ɡɹ̠eəs]
ipa: [ɡɹ̠as]
ipa: [ɡɹ̠äs]
note: New York, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Baltimore
ipa: [ɡɹ̠ɛəs]
rhymes: -æs
Forms: form: grasses
form: grassing
form: grassed
form: grassed
Etymology: From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots girs, gers, gress (“grass”), North Frisian gäärs, geers (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Low German Gras (“grass”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), German Gras (“grass, weed”), Danish græs (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gress (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), 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.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 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
glosses: To lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.).
examples: text: "Grassed on me he did," I said morosely. (Note: Grass is English thief slang for inform.)^([sic])
ref: 1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press, page 2:
text: "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 on. I trust none of you will grass on me..."
ref: 2004, David Nobbs, Sex and Other Changes, page 95:
synonyms: word: bewray
word: blow the whistle
word: clepe
word: denounce
word: dime
word: dob
word: drop a dime
word: drop a dime on someone
word: finger
word: fink
word: fizgig
word: inform
word: inform on
word: grass on
word: grass up
word: lolly up
word: name names
word: nark
word: peach
word: rat on
word: rat out
word: roll on
word: sing
word: snitch
word: snitch up
word: squeak
word: squeal
word: tattle
word: tell
word: tell all
word: tell on
word: tell tales
word: tip off
word: turn in
glosses: To act as a grass or informer, to betray; to report on (criminals etc) to the authorities.
glosses: To cover with grass or with turf.
glosses: To feed with grass.
glosses: To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
examples: text: 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 […]
ref: 1903, John Buchan, The African Colony:
text: 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.
ref: 2011, Deeanne Gist, Love on the Line, page 138:
glosses: To bring to the grass or ground; to land.
Derived terms: grasser