grass Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay
  2. noun German writer of novels and poetry and plays (born 1927)
    Gunter Grass; Gunter Wilhelm Grass.
  3. noun a police informer who implicates many people
    supergrass.
  4. noun bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle
    eatage; pasturage; forage; pasture.
  5. noun street names for marijuana
    sess; skunk; pot; weed; gage; smoke; Mary Jane; sens; green goddess; dope; locoweed.
  6. verb shoot down, of birds
  7. verb cover with grass
    • The owners decided to grass their property
  8. verb spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach
  9. verb cover with grass
    grass over.
  10. verb feed with grass
  11. verb give away information about somebody
    shop; give away; denounce; tell on; stag; rat; betray; snitch; shit.
    • He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam

WordNet

Grass noun
Etymology
OE. gras, gres, gers, AS, qrs, grs; akin to OFries. gres, gers, OS., D., G., Icel., & Goth. gras, Dan. grs, Sw. grs, and prob. to Z. grcen, grow. Cf. Graze.
Definitions
  1. Popularly: Herbage; the plants which constitute the food of cattle and other beasts; pasture.
  2. (Bot.) An endogenous plant having simple leaves, a stem generally jointed and tubular, the husks or glumes in pairs, and the seed single. ✍ This definition includes wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc., and excludes clover and some other plants which are commonly called by the name of grass. The grasses form a numerous family of plants.
  3. The season of fresh grass; spring. Colloq.
    Two years old next grass. Lathsm.
  4. Metaphorically used for what is transitory.
    Surely the people is grass. Is. xl. 7.
    ✍ The following list includes most of the grasses of the United States of special interest, except cereals. Many of these terms will be found with definitions in the Vocabulary. See Illustrations in Appendix. Barnyard grass, for hay. South. Panicum Grus-galli. Bent, pasture and hay. Agrostis, several species. Bermuda grass, pasture. South. Cynodon Dactylon. Black bent. Same as Switch grass (below). Blue bent, hay. North and West. Andropogon provincialis. Blue grass, pasture. Poa compressa. Blue joint, hay. Northwest. Aqropyrum glaucum. Buffalo grass, grazing. Rocky Mts., etc. (a) Buchloë dectyloides. (b) Same as Grama grass (below). Bunch grass, grazing. Far West. Eriocoma, Festuca, Stips, etc. Chess, ∨ Cheat, a weed. Bromus secalinus, etc. Couch grass. Same as Quick grass (below). Crab grass, (a) Hay, in South. A weed, in North. Panicum sanguinale. (b) Pasture and hay. South. Eleusine Indica. Darnel (a) Bearded, a noxious weed. Lolium temulentum. (b) Common. Same as Rye grass (below). Drop seed, fair for forage and hay. Muhlenbergia, several species. English grass. Same as Redtop (below). Fowl meadow grass. (a) Pasture and hay. Poa serotina. (b) Hay, on moist land. Gryceria nervata. Gama grass, cut fodder. South. Tripsacum dactyloides. spelled here (as in modern dictionaries) "Grama" in original, but references are to "gramma" Grama grass, grazing. West and Pacific slope. Bouteloua oligostachya, etc. Great bunch grass, pasture and hay. Far West. Festuca scabrella. Guinea grass, hay. South. Panicum jumentorum. Herd's grass, in New England Timothy, in Pennsylvania and South Redtop. Indian grass. Same as Wood grass (below). Italian rye grass, forage and hay. Lolium Italicum. Johnson grass, grazing aud hay. South and Southwest. Sorghum Halepense. Kentucky blue grass, pasture. Poa pratensis. Lyme grass, coarse hay. South. Elymus, several species. Manna grass, pasture and hay. Glyceria, several species. Meadow fescue, pasture and hay. Festuca elatior. Meadow foxtail, pasture, hay, lawn. North. Alopecurus pratensis. Meadow grass, pasture, hay, lawn. Poa, several species. Mesquite, ∨ Muskit grass. Same as Grama grass (above). Nimble Will, a kind of drop seed. Muhlenbergia diffsa. Orchard grass, pasture and hay. Dactylis glomerata. Porcupine grass, troublesome to sheep. Northwest. Stipa spartea. Quaking grass, ornamental. Briza media and maxima. Quitch, or Quick, grass, etc., a weed. Agropyrum repens. Ray grass. Same as Rye grass (below). Redtop, pasture and hay. Agrostis vulgaris. Red-topped buffalo grass, forage. Northwest. Poa tenuifolia. Reed canary grass, of slight value. Phalaris arundinacea. Reed meadow grass, hay. North. Glyceria aquatica. Ribbon grass, a striped leaved form of Reed canary grass. Rye grass, pasture, hay. Lolium perenne, var. Seneca grass, fragrant basket work, etc. North. Hierochloa borealis. Sesame grass. Same as Gama grass (above). Sheep's fescue, sheep pasture, native in Northern Europe and Asia. Festuca ovina. Small reed grass, meadow pasture and hay. North. Deyeuxia Canadensis. Spear grass, Same as Meadow grass (above). Squirrel-tail grass, troublesome to animals. Seacoast and Northwest. Hordeum jubatum. Switch grass, hay, cut young. Panicum virgatum. Timothy, cut young, the best of hay. North. Phleum pratense. Velvet grass, hay on poor soil. South. Holcus lanatus. Vernal grass, pasture, hay, lawn. Anthoxanthum odoratum. Wire grass, valuable in pastures. Poa compressa. Wood grass, Indian grass, hay. Chrysopogon nutans. ✍ Many plants are popularly called grasses which are not true grasses botanically considered, such as black grass, goose grass, star grass, etc.
Grass transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Grassed ; present participle & verbal noun Grassing
Definitions
  1. To cover with grass or with turf.
  2. To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
  3. To bring to the grass or ground; to land; as, to grass a fish. Colloq.
Grass intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To produce grass. R. Tusser.

Webster 1913