Bluegrass
noun
noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Kentucky bluegrass, Poa pratensis. countable, uncountable
- 2 A subgenre of country music with roots in Scots-Irish Appalachian folk music, blues, and jazz and characterized by banjos, fiddles, acoustic guitars, dobros, and mandolins; but containing no drums, electric guitars, pianos or other keyboard or wind instruments; using a bass fiddle to carry its rhythm. uncountable
- 3 a type of country music played at a rapid tempo on banjos and guitars wordnet
- 4 any of various grasses of the genus Poa wordnet
Example
More examples"Who's your favorite bluegrass musician?"
Etymology
Etymology 1
From blue + grass, from the bluish appearance of the massed grass in late Spring.
Etymology 2
From the band Blue Grass Boys, led by Bill Monroe; bluegrass is first attested in print in reference to the genre of music in 1956.
Related phrases
More for "bluegrass"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.