grass

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) 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.
2. (countable) Various plants not in family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
3. (uncountable) A lawn.
4. (uncountable) The outside world, especially in the phrase "touch grass".
5. (slang, uncountable) Marijuana.
6. (British, countable, slang) An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities.
7. (uncountable) Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
8. (slang, uncountable) Noise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display.
9. (countable, uncountable) The season of fresh grass; spring or summer.
10. (countable, figuratively, obsolete) That which is transitory.
11. (countable) Asparagus; "sparrowgrass".
12. (countable) The surface of a mine.

Verb

1. (transitive) To lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.).
2. (intransitive, slang, transitive) To act as a grass or informer, to betray; to report on (criminals etc) to the authorities.
3. (transitive) To cover with grass or with turf.
4. (transitive) To feed with grass.
5. (transitive) To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc.
6. (transitive) To bring to the grass or ground; to land.

Synonyms

weed

herb

🌿

lawn

pasture

straw

marijuana

weeds

turf

fodder

herbs

hay

pot

Mary Jane

plant

🌱

thatch

flower

🌸

supergrass

snitch

ganja

green goddess

herbage

reeds

sward

betray

forage

grass over

vegetables

gage

locoweed

sess

skunk

🦨

brush

informer

hemp

dope

leaves

🍃

tell on

denounce

sod

stag

🦌

cereal

shit

💩

smoke

stool pigeon

vegetable

rat

🐀

blade of grass

shop

give away

reed

Translations

herbe

hierba

🌿

Gras

erba

gras

erva

🌿

pasto

yerba

grama

herba

🌿

ot

césped

γρασίδι

Rasen

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ɡɹɑːs/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: gras

Inherited from Old English: græs

Cognate with Scots: girs

Cognate with Northern Frisian: gäärs

Cognate with Saterland Frisian: Gäärs

Cognate with Western Frisian: gers

Cognate with Low German: Gras

Cognate with Dutch: gras

Cognate with German: Gras

Cognate with Danish: græs

Cognate with Swedish: gräs

Cognate with Norwegian Bokmål: gress

Cognate with Faroese: -

Cognate with Icelandic: -

Cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk: gras

Cognate with Latin: herba

Cognate with Albanian: grath

In summary

From Middle English gras, from Old English græs, from Proto-Germanic *grasą (“grass”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots girs, gers, gress (“grass”), North Frisian gäärs, geers (“grass”), Saterland Frisian Gäärs (“grass”), West Frisian gers (“grass”), Low German Gras (“grass”), Dutch gras (“grass, turf, pasture”), German Gras (“grass, weed”), Danish græs (“grass”), Swedish gräs (“grass”), Norwegian Bokmål gress (“grass”), Faroese, Icelandic and Norwegian Nynorsk gras (“grass”), 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.