Word: grass Part of Speech: noun Etymology: 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. Pronunciation: /ɡɹɑːs/, [ɡɹ̠ɑːs], [ɡɹ̠äːs], [ɡɹ̠ɐːs], /ɡɹæs/ 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. / In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth vp: in the euening it is cut downe, and withereth. Example: 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. 2. Any of the various plants that are not in the family Poaceae that resemble grasses. Labels: countable 3. A lawn. Labels: uncountable 4. The outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass". Labels: uncountable 5. Marijuana. Labels: slang, uncountable Example: Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass 6. An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities. Labels: UK, countable, slang Example: What just happened must remain secret. Don't be a grass. Example: 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 that's a whole different problem. 7. Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference. Labels: uncountable 8. Noise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display. Labels: slang, uncountable Example: 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. Example: 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. 9. The season of fresh grass; spring or summer. Labels: countable, uncountable 10. That which is transitory. Labels: countable, figuratively, obsolete Example: The grasse withereth, the flowre fadeth; because the spirit of the Lord bloweth vpon it: surely the people is grasse. 11. Asparagus; "sparrowgrass". Labels: countable Example: '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.' 12. The surface of a mine. Labels: countable