Word: turf Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English turf, torf, from Old English turf (“turf, sod, soil, piece of grass-covered earth, greensward”), from Proto-West Germanic *turb (“turf, peat”), from Proto-Germanic *turbz (“turf, lawn”), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”). Cognates Cognate with Scots turr, truff (“turf, peat”), Dutch turf (“turf”), Middle Low German torf (“peat, turf”) (whence German Torf and German Low German Torf), Danish tørv (“peat”), Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian, and Swedish torv (“turf”), Norn *torv (“peat”), French tourbe (“peat”), Finnish turve (“turf”), Lithuanian darbas (“bunch of leaves”), durpės (“peat”), Sanskrit दर्भ (darbhá, “a type of grass”), दूर्वा (dū́rvā, “bent grass”). Not cognate with Danish torv (“square, market, marketplace”), which is instead inherited from Old Norse torg (“marketplace”), from Old East Slavic търгъ (tŭrgŭ, “trade, trading, commerce, trade square”), ultimately from Proto-Slavic *tъ̑rgъ (“merchandise, commodity, wares”). Pronunciation: /tɝf/, /tɜːf/, /tʌɾf/, /tøːf/, /teːf/ 1. A layer of earth covered with grass; sod. Labels: uncountable Example: Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said. Example: It was a sixth successive defeat for Klopp in a major final and at the final whistle, with Karius burying his face into the turf, there was not exactly a stampede of team-mates wanting to console him. 2. A piece of such a layer cut from the soil. May be used as sod to make a lawn, dried for peat, stacked to form earthen structures, etc. Labels: countable Example: "It's an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They used to cut out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren't lawfully seised of your land - it didn't really belong to you - till the other fellow had actually given you a piece of it - like this." He held out the turves. Example: Frodo and Sam went forward and saw that amidst the clamorous host were set three high-seats built of green turves. 3. A block of peat used as fuel. Labels: countable Example: In ordinary peat-bogs, however, where turves are cut, there is always a large percentage of waste peat resulting from the digging, drying or transport of the turves, which can be utilized only by moulding it. Example: […] the fireman has to divide his time between getting up into the bunker to throw more turfs into the cab, and getting down on his hands and knees to get it into the firebox, and even then a reserve supply of turf must be carried on a truck behind the engine, and stops must be made on each steep ascent to raise more steam. 4. A thick, carpet-like bed of algae. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: The turf layer is made up of filamentous and thallose red algae. 5. A surface of synthetic fibers made to look like grass; artificial turf. Labels: specifically, uncountable Example: In climates where grass struggles to grow, turf is usually used instead on sports fields. Example: The Niners have nine games left on the schedule, and only one visit to a turf field. That turf in Seattle is not slit film; while the NFL admits slit film fields lead to more ankle sprains, the league insists that turf is otherwise no more dangerous than grass. 6. A territory claimed by a gang as their own. Labels: slang, uncountable 7. A person's domain or sphere of influence. Labels: broadly, uncountable 8. A racetrack, hippodrome. Labels: uncountable, with-definite-article 9. The sport of racing horses. Labels: uncountable, with-definite-article