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Turf
Definitions
- 1 A layer of earth covered with grass; sod. uncountable
"Miss Thorn began digging up the turf with her lofter: it was a painful moment for me. ¶ “You might at least have tried me, Mrs. Cooke,” I said."
- 2 range of jurisdiction or influence wordnet
- 3 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. countable
""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."
- 4 the territory claimed by a juvenile gang as its own wordnet
- 5 A block of peat used as fuel. countable
"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."
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- 6 surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots wordnet
- 7 A thick, carpet-like bed of algae. countable, uncountable
"The turf layer is made up of filamentous and thallose red algae."
- 8 A surface of synthetic fibers made to look like grass; artificial turf. specifically, uncountable
"In climates where grass struggles to grow, turf is usually used instead on sports fields."
- 9 A territory claimed by a gang as their own. slang, uncountable
- 10 A person's domain or sphere of influence. broadly, uncountable
- 11 A racetrack, hippodrome. uncountable, with-definite-article
- 12 The sport of racing horses. uncountable, with-definite-article
- 1 To cover with turf; to create a lawn by laying turfs.
- 2 cover (the ground) with a surface layer of grass or grass roots wordnet
- 3 To throw a frisbee well short of its intended target, usually causing it to hit the ground within 10 yards of its release.
- 4 To fire from a job or dismiss from a task.
"Eight managers were turfed after the merger of the two companies."
- 5 To cancel a project or product.
"The company turfed the concept car because the prototype performed poorly."
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- 6 To expel, eject, or throw out; to turf out. informal, transitive
"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."
- 7 To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for. transitive
""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)."
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”).
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”).
See also for "turf"
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