turf

Etymology

From Middle English turf, torf, from Old English turf (“turf, sod, soil, piece of grass covered earth, greensward”), from Proto-West Germanic *turb, from Proto-Germanic *turbz (“turf, lawn”), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”). Cognate with Dutch turf (“turf”), Middle Low German torf (“peat, turf”) (whence German Torf and German Low German Torf), Swedish torv (“turf”), Norwegian torv (“turf”), Icelandic torf (“turf”), Russian трава (trava, “grass”), Sanskrit दर्भ (darbhá, “a kind of grass”), दूर्वा (dū́rvā, “bent grass”).

noun

1. (uncountable) A layer of earth covered with grass; sod.
   It was a sixth successive defeat for Klopp in a major final and at the final whistle, with Karius burying his face into the turf, there was not exactly a stampede of team-mates wanting to console him. 26 May 2018, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London)
2. (countable) A piece of such a layer cut from the soil. May be used as sod to make a lawn, dried for peat, stacked to form earthen structures, etc.
   "It's an old custom the people had when they bought and sold land. They used to cut out a clod and hand it over to the buyer, and you weren't lawfully seised of your land - it didn't really belong to you - till the other fellow had actually given you a piece of it - like this." He held out the turves. 1906, Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill
   Frodo and Sam went forward and saw that amidst the clamorous host were set three high-seats built of green turves. 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
3. (countable) A block of peat used as fuel.
   In ordinary peat-bogs, however, where turves are cut, there is always a large percentage of waste peat resulting from the digging, drying or transport of the turves, which can be utilized only by moulding it. 1908, Karl Gayer, W. R. Fisher, edited by Sir William Schlich, Forest Utilization (Schlich's Manual of Forestry)
   […] the fireman has to divide his time between getting up into the bunker to throw more turfs into the cab, and getting down on his hands and knees to get it into the firebox, and even then a reserve supply of turf must be carried on a truck behind the engine, and stops must be made on each steep ascent to raise more steam. 1945 January and February, “Notes and News: Locomotive Firing with Turf”, in Railway Magazine, page 46
4. A thick, carpet-like bed of algae.
   The turf layer is made up of filamentous and thallose red algae. 1980, An Ecological Characterization of the Pacific Northwest Coastal Region, volumes 1-2, page 84
5. (uncountable, slang) A territory claimed by a person, gang, etc., as their own.
6. (uncountable, with "the", sports) A racetrack, hippodrome; or the sport of racing horses.

verb

1. To cover with turf; to create a lawn by laying turfs.
2. (Ultimate Frisbee) To throw a frisbee well short of its intended target, usually causing it to hit the ground within 10 yards of its release.
3. (business) To fire from a job or dismiss from a task.
   Eight managers were turfed after the merger of the two companies.
4. (business) To cancel a project or product.
   The company turfed the concept car because the prototype performed poorly.
5. (informal, transitive) To expel, eject, or throw out; to turf out.
   He has the mistaken idea that he is a lap dog, and loves to be nursed, especially by ladies, but eighty-five pounds on your lap is no joke, and he can never understand why he gets turfed off. 1968, Eric Herne, The Haunted Islands, page 18
   At the same time as College was being unceremoniously turfed from their premises, a similar process was affecting the Estcourt School. 1988, Simon Haw with Richard Frame, For Hearth and Home: The Story of Maritzburg College, 1863-1988, page 166
6. (medical slang, transitive) To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for.
   "Sure thing, I buffed her, and they turfed her to urology, but she bounced back to me!" […] They want to transfer responsibility for her to another branch of the hospital (turf her). 1996, Jeffrey E. Nash, James M. Calonico, The Meaning of Social Interaction: An Introduction to Social Psychology, page 139