grass

Etymology

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.

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.
   'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
2. (countable) Various plants not in family Poaceae that resemble grasses.
3. (uncountable) A lawn.
4. (uncountable, slang) Marijuana.
   Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona / For some California grass 1970, Paul McCartney (lyrics and music), “Get Back”, in Let It Be, performed by The Beatles
5. (countable, Britain, slang) An informer, police informer; one who betrays a group (of criminals, etc) to the authorities.
   What just happened must remain secret. Don't be a grass.
   He was a grass and an arse lick and he didn't do it for him, he did it for his brother, because if Vaughan had hit him especially with his mallet, Mark was the kind of lowlife that would have pressed charges and then that's a whole different problem. 2007, Paul Knight, Coding of a Concrete Animal, page 215
   Another claimed a £10,000 bounty was put on his head as he was rumoured to be a “grass”. 29 June 2023, Metro, London, page 4, column 1
6. (uncountable, physics) Sharp, closely spaced discontinuities in the trace of a cathode-ray tube, produced by random interference.
7. (uncountable, slang) Noise on an A-scope or similar type of radar display.
   The problem in radar detection is to have a signal to noise ratio that will allow the echo to be seen through the grass on the radar screen. The use of a long pulse allows a greater average signal strength to be returned in the target echoes. 1960, Radarman 3 & 2, volume 1, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 49
   Some of the scattered waves can be picked up by the receiver and may show up as "grass" on the radar presentation. Weather radars make use of this phenomenon to chart the progress of storms. 1963, Analysis of Weapons, page 61
8. The season of fresh grass; spring or summer.
9. (obsolete, figurative) That which is transitory.
10. (countable, folk etymology) Asparagus; "sparrowgrass".
    'Have ready a hundred of ſmall graſs boiled, then ſave tops enough to ſtick the rolls with, the reſt cut ſmall and put into the cream, fill the loaves with them.' 1769, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy, 9th edition, page 195
11. (mining) The surface of a mine.

verb

1. (transitive) To lay out on the grass; to knock down (an opponent etc.).
   He flew at me with his knife, and I had to grass him twice, and got a cut over the knuckles, before I had the upper hand of him. 1893, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Naval Treaty, Norton, published 2005, page 709
2. (transitive or intransitive, slang) To act as a grass or informer, to betray; to report on (criminals etc) to the authorities.
   "I'm dressed as a woman, but I am still technically a man. I believe that to comply with the law of the land I ought to continue to use the Gents', but in order not to look out place I intend to use the Ladies' from now on. I trust none of you will grass on me..." 2004, David Nobbs, Sex and Other Changes, page 95
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.
   Let him hook and land a tigerfish of 20 lb., at the imminent risk of capsizing and joining the company of the engaging crocodiles, or, when he has grassed the fish, of having a finger bitten off by his iron teeth […] 1903, John Buchan, The African Colony
   In typical Necker style, the farmer walked to the line and mounted his gun without any shilly-shally. If he grassed the bird, he and Faurote would go into a shootout. If he missed, Faurote would win. 2011, Deeanne Gist, Love on the Line, page 138