GRASS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Grass mean? 

• GRASS (noun)
  The noun GRASS has 5 senses:

1. narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay

2. German writer of novels and poetry and plays (born 1927)

3. a police informer who implicates many people

4. bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle

5. street names for marijuana

  Familiarity information: GRASS used as a noun is common.

• GRASS (verb)
  The verb GRASS has 6 senses:

1. shoot down, of birds

2. cover with grass

3. spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach

4. cover with grass

5. feed with grass

6. give away information about somebody

  Familiarity information: GRASS used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRASS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("grass" is a kind of...):

graminaceous plant; gramineous plant (cosmopolitan herbaceous or woody plants with hollow jointed stems and long narrow leaves)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "grass"):

gardener's garters; lady's laces; Phalaris arundinacea; reed canary grass; ribbon grass (perennial grass of marshy meadows and ditches having broad leaves; Europe and North America)

plume grass (a reedlike grass of the genus Erianthus having large plumes)

fescue; fescue grass; Festuca elatior; meadow fescue (grass with wide flat leaves cultivated in Europe and America for permanent pasture and hay and for lawns)

Festuca ovina; sheep's fescue; sheep fescue (cultivated for sheep pasturage in upland regions or used as a lawn grass)

silver grass (of Australia and New Zealand)

Holcus lanatus; velvet grass; Yorkshire fog (tall European perennial grass having a velvety stem; naturalized in United States and used for forage)

creeping soft grass; Holcus mollis (European perennial grass with soft velvety foliage)

rye grass; ryegrass (any of several annual or perennial Eurasian grasses)

Muhlenbergia schreberi; nimble Will; nimblewill (slender branching American grass of some value for grazing in central United States)

dallis grass; dallisgrass; paspalum; Paspalum dilatatum (tall tufted perennial tropical American grass naturalized as pasture and forage grass in southern United States)

Bahia grass; Paspalum notatum (perennial tropical American grass used as pasture grass in arid areas of the Gulf States)

knotgrass; Paspalum distichum (low-growing weedy grass with spikelets along the leaf stems)

fountain grass; Pennisetum ruppelii; Pennisetum setaceum (tall perennial ornamental grass with long nodding flower plumes of tropical Africa and Asia)

feathertop; feathertop grass; Pennistum villosum (northeastern tropical African plant having feathery panicles)

bunch grass; bunchgrass (any of various grasses of many genera that grow in tufts or clumps rather than forming a sod or mat; chiefly of western United States)

birdseed grass; canary grass; Phalaris canariensis (Canary Islands grass; seeds used as feed for caged birds)

Harding grass; hardinggrass; Phalaris aquatica; Phalaris tuberosa; toowomba canary grass (perennial grass of Australia and South Africa; introduced in North America as forage grass)

herd's grass; Phleum pratense; timothy (grass with long cylindrical spikes grown in northern United States and Europe for hay)

blue grass; bluegrass (any of various grasses of the genus Poa)

meadow grass; meadowgrass (any of various grasses that thrive in the presence of abundant moisture)

munj; munja; Saccharum bengalense; Saccharum munja (tough Asiatic grass whose culms are used for ropes and baskets)

Andropogon furcatus; Andropogon gerardii; blue stem; bluestem (tall grass with smooth bluish leaf sheaths grown for hay in the United States)

cord grass; cordgrass (any of several perennial grasses of the genus Spartina; some important as coastal soil binders)

drop-seed; dropseed (a grass of the genus Sporobolus)

rush-grass; rush grass (grass having wiry stems and sheathed panicles)

buffalo grass; St. Augustine grass; Stenotaphrum secundatum (low mat-forming grass of southern United States and tropical America; grown as a lawn grass)

cereal; cereal grass (grass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet)

zoysia (any of several creeping grasses of the genus Zoysia)

wild rye (any of several grasses of the genus Elymus)

beach grass (tough grasses with strong roots that can grow on exposed sandy shores)

midgrass (any of various grasses of moderate height which covered the undisturbed prairie in the United States; includes most of the forage grasses of the temperate zone)

short-grass; shortgrass (any of various grasses that are short and can tolerate drought conditions; common on the dry upland plains just east of the Rocky Mountains)

sword grass (any of various grasses or sedges having sword-shaped leaves with sharp edges)

tall-grass; tallgrass (any of various grasses that are tall and that flourish with abundant moisture)

lemon grass; lemongrass (a tropical grass native to India and Sri Lanka)

Aegilops triuncalis; goat grass (European grass naturalized as a weed in North America; sharp-pointed seeds cause injury when eaten by livestock)

wheat-grass; wheatgrass (a grass of the genus Agropyron)

bent; bent-grass; bent grass (grass for pastures and lawns especially bowling and putting greens)

broom grass (any of several grasses of the genus Andropogon; used in broom making)

Arrhenatherum elatius; evergreen grass; false oat; French rye; tall meadow grass; tall oat grass (coarse perennial Eurasian grass resembling oat; found on roadside verges and rough grassland and in hay meadows; introduced in North America for forage)

brome; bromegrass (any of various woodland and meadow grasses of the genus Bromus; native to temperate regions)

grama; grama grass; gramma; gramma grass (pasture grass of plains of South America and western North America)

Buchloe dactyloides; buffalo grass (short grass growing on dry plains of central United States (where buffalo roam))

reed grass (any of various tall perennial grasses of the genus Calamagrostis having feathery plumes; natives of marshland fens and wet woodlands of temperate northern hemisphere)

bur grass; burgrass (a grass of the genus Cenchrus)

Cenchrus tribuloides; field sandbur; sandbur; sandspur (grass of the eastern United States and tropical America having spikelets enclosed in prickly burs)

finger grass (any grass of the genus Chloris; occurs in short grassland especially on waste ground or poor soils)

Cortaderia selloana; pampas grass (tall perennial grass of pampas of South America having silvery plumes and growing in large dense clumps)

Arundo richardii; Cortaderia richardii; plumed tussock; toe toe; toetoe (tall grass of New Zealand grown for plumelike flower heads)

Bahama grass; Bermuda grass; Cynodon dactylon; devil grass; doob; kweek; scutch grass; star grass (trailing grass native to Europe now cosmopolitan in warm regions; used for lawns and pastures especially in southern United States and India)

Cynodon plectostachyum; giant star grass (perennial grass having stems 3 to 4 feet high; used especially in Africa and India for pasture and hay)

cocksfoot; cockspur; Dactylis glomerata; orchard grass (widely grown stout Old World hay and pasture grass)

crab grass; crabgrass; finger grass (grasses with creeping stems that root freely; a pest in lawns)

lyme grass (a grass of the genus Elymus)

bay grass; love grass (any of various grasses of the genus Eragrostis; specially useful for forage and for the prevention of erosion)

Derivation:

grass (feed with grass)

grass; grass (cover with grass)

grassy (abounding in grass)

Sense 2

Meaning:

German writer of novels and poetry and plays (born 1927)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Grass; Gunter Grass; Gunter Wilhelm Grass

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 3

Meaning:

A police informer who implicates many people

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

grass; supergrass

Hypernyms ("grass" is a kind of...):

betrayer; blabber; informer; rat; squealer (one who reveals confidential information in return for money)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

eatage; forage; grass; pasturage; pasture

Hypernyms ("grass" is a kind of...):

fodder (coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Street names for marijuana

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

dope; gage; grass; green goddess; locoweed; Mary Jane; pot; sens; sess; skunk; smoke; weed

Hypernyms ("grass" is a kind of...):

cannabis; ganja; marihuana; marijuana (the most commonly used illicit drug; considered a soft drug, it consists of the dried leaves of the hemp plant; smoked or chewed for euphoric effect)

• GRASS (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they grass    ... he / she / it grasses   
Past simple: grassed   
Past participle: grassed   
-ing form: grassing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Shoot down, of birds

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Hypernyms (to "grass" is one way to...):

hit; pip; shoot (hit with a missile from a weapon)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Cover with grass

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The owners decided to grass their property

Hypernyms (to "grass" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

grass (narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "grass" is one way to...):

open; spread; spread out; unfold (spread out or open from a closed or folded state)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Cover with grass

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

grass; grass over

Hypernyms (to "grass" is one way to...):

cover; spread over (form a cover over)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

grass (narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Feed with grass

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "grass" is one way to...):

crop; graze; pasture (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

grass (narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Give away information about somebody

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

betray; denounce; give away; grass; rat; shit; shop; snitch; stag; tell on

Context example:

He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam

Hypernyms (to "grass" is one way to...):

inform (impart knowledge of some fact, state of affairs, or event to)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "grass"):

sell someone out (give information that compromises others)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

He sniffed the sweetness of the tawny grass, which entered his brain and set his thoughts whirling on from the particular to the universal.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

My dear Watson, Professor Moriarty is not a man who lets the grass grow under his feet.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Yes, yes: someone has passed along,” said Holmes, stooping over the grass border.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I found the island to be all rocky, only a little intermingled with tufts of grass, and sweet-smelling herbs.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

"What shall we do now?" asked the Tin Woodman, as the Lion lay down on the grass to let the sun dry him.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

It was damp, marshy ground, as is all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either side.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She sent a questing glance across the tall grass and in and out among the orchard trees.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

“I think the tundra grass will make just as good a roof,” she said.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Also called: Cannabis, Ganja, Grass, Hash, Pot, Weed

(Marijuana, NIH: National Institute on Drug Abuse)

When it became noon, and the sun rose higher, I lay down on the grass and was overpowered by a deep sleep.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)