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turf

Pronunciation: /tɝf/

The English word “turf” has 15 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A layer of earth covered with grass; sod.
  2. 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.
  3. A block of peat used as fuel.
  4. A thick, carpet-like bed of algae.
  5. A surface of synthetic fibers made to look like grass; artificial turf.
  6. A territory claimed by a gang as their own.
  7. A person's domain or sphere of influence.
  8. A racetrack, hippodrome.
  9. The sport of racing horses.

verb

  1. To cover with turf; to create a lawn by laying turfs.
  2. To throw a frisbee well short of its intended target, usually causing it to hit the ground within 10 yards of its release.
  3. To fire from a job or dismiss from a task.
  4. To cancel a project or product.
  5. To expel, eject, or throw out; to turf out.
  6. To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for.

Etymology

From Middle English turf, torf, from Old English turf (“turf, sod, soil, piece of grass-covered earth, greensward”), from Proto-West Germanic *turb (“turf, peat”), from Proto-Germanic *turbz (“turf, lawn”), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”). Cognates Cognate with Scots turr, truff (“turf, peat”), Dutch turf (“turf”), Middle Low German torf (“peat, turf”) (whence German Torf and…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.