TURF (turves)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: turves   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does turf mean? 

• TURF (noun)
  The noun TURF has 3 senses:

1. surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots

2. the territory claimed by a juvenile gang as its own

3. range of jurisdiction or influence

  Familiarity information: TURF used as a noun is uncommon.

• TURF (verb)
  The verb TURF has 1 sense:

1. cover (the ground) with a surface layer of grass or grass roots

  Familiarity information: TURF used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TURF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

greensward; sod; sward; turf

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

ground; land; soil (material in the top layer of the surface of the earth in which plants can grow (especially with reference to its quality or use))

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

divot (a piece of turf dug out of a lawn or fairway (by an animals hooves or a golf club))

Sense 2

Meaning:

The territory claimed by a juvenile gang as its own

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

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

city district (a district of a town or city)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Range of jurisdiction or influence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Context example:

a bureaucracy...chiefly concerned with turf...and protecting the retirement system

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

jurisdiction (in law; the territory within which power can be exercised)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

• TURF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they turf    ... he / she / it turfs   
Past simple: turfed   
Past participle: turfed   
-ing form: turfing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover (the ground) with a surface layer of grass or grass roots

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

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

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

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

“I have been on the turf for twenty years, and never was asked such a question as that before,” said he.

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

A pleasant green field, with three wide-spreading oaks in the middle and a smooth strip of turf for croquet.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

His father was the notorious Sir Jabez Gilchrist, who ruined himself on the turf.

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

A wide, open space lay before us—some hundreds of yards across—all green turf and low bracken growing to the very edge of the cliff.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was a green spot, on a hill, carpeted with soft turf.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then he fixed the yew-stave of his bow upon end and measured the long, thin, black line which it threw upon the turf.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A weakness, beginning inwardly, extending to the limbs, seized me, and I fell: I lay on the ground some minutes, pressing my face to the wet turf.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Many threw themselves down upon the turf and allowed successive waves to pass over their bodies, whilst others, driven wild by the blows, returned them with their hunting-crops and walking-canes.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She was sitting near the window, and as soon as Sir John perceived her, he left the rest of the party to the ceremony of knocking at the door, and stepping across the turf, obliged her to open the casement to speak to him, though the space was so short between the door and the window, as to make it hardly possible to speak at one without being heard at the other.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

He learned to play heavily at cards and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour.

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