Grass
/grɑ:s/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun:
- A common plant with narrow green leaves: A type of plant that covers the ground in fields, lawns, and pastures.
- An area of land covered with such plants: A lawn or pasture.
- Marijuana (slang): A street name for the dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant.
- An informer (slang): A person who gives information to the police or authorities about someone else's illegal activities.
Verb:
- To cover land with grass: To sow or plant grass seeds on an area of land.
- To give secret information about someone (slang): To inform on someone to an authority.
- To shoot down (a bird): To bring a bird to the ground by shooting it.
- To spread out (e.g., clothes) on grass: To lay items on grass, often to dry or bleach them.
Usage Examples
Noun:
- The grass in the park is very green. (The green plants covering the park's ground are very green.)
- He was sitting on the grass, reading a book. (He was sitting on the area covered with short green plants.)
- The police arrested him after an anonymous tip from a grass. (The police arrested him after a secret informer gave information.)
Verb:
- They decided to grass the bare patch in their garden. (They decided to plant grass on the empty area in their garden.)
- He was afraid his friend would grass on him to the teacher. (He was afraid his friend would secretly tell the teacher about his wrongdoing.)
- The hunter grassed several ducks. (The hunter shot and brought down several ducks.)
Advanced Usage
- "to put/send out to grass": To retire someone or something, often an animal, by sending it to pasture; used figuratively for people.
- The old car was finally put out to grass. (The old car was finally retired from use.)
- "the grass is always greener on the other side (of the fence)": A proverb meaning other people's situations always seem better than one's own.
- She wanted to change jobs, but the grass is always greener. (She thought a new job would be better, but that's a common illusion.)
Variants and Related Words
- Grassy (adj): Covered with or resembling grass.
- The grassy hill was perfect for a picnic.
- Grassland (n): A large open area of country covered with grass.
- The animals roam the vast grassland.
- Grassroots (adj/n): Relating to the ordinary people in a society or organization.
- The movement started as a grassroots campaign.
Synonyms
- Noun (plant): Turf, lawn, sod, pasture.
- Verb (inform): Inform (on), betray, snitch (slang), tell (on).
Related Phrasal Verbs
- Grass on (someone): To inform the authorities about someone's illegal activities.
- He grassed on his partners to get a lighter sentence.
- Grass over: To become covered with grass.
- The old ruins have grassed over with time.
Related Idioms
- "Don't let the grass grow under your feet": Do not delay; act quickly.
- As soon as he had the idea, he started working—he doesn't let the grass grow under his feet.
- "To be at grass": To be resting or out of work; originally for animals grazing.
- Since the factory closed, he's been at grass.
Verb
- give away information about somebody
- He told on his classmate who had cheated on the exam
- feed with grass
- cover with grass
- spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach
- cover with grass
- The owners decided to grass their property
- shoot down, of birds
Noun
- street names for marijuana
- bulky food like grass or hay for browsing or grazing horses or cattle
- a police informer who implicates many people
- German writer of novels and poetry and plays (born 1927)
- narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay