turf

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

turf, n. [AS. turf; akin to D. turf peat, G. torf, OHG. zurba turf, Sw. & Icel. torf turf, peat, Dan. törv, Skr. darbha a kind of grass, a tuft of grass.

•  That upper stratum of earth and vegetable mold which is filled with the roots of grass and other small plants, so as to adhere and form a kind of mat; sward; sod.  [1913 Webster]

  "At his head a grass-green turf."  [1913 Webster]

  "The Greek historian sets her in the field on a high heap of turves."  [1913 Webster]
•  Peat, especially when prepared for fuel. See Peat.  [1913 Webster]
•  Race course; horse racing; -- preceded by the.  Cowper.  [1913 Webster]

  " Turf is often used adjectively, or to form compounds which are generally self-explaining; as, turf ashes, turf cutter or turf-cutter, turf pit or turf-pit, turf-built, turf-clad, turf-covered, etc."  [1913 Webster]

Turf ant (Zoöl.), a small European ant (Formica flava) which makes small ant-hills on heaths and commons. -- Turf drain, a drain made with turf or peat. -- Turf hedge, a hedge or fence formed with turf and plants of different kinds. -- Turf house, a house or shed formed of turf, common in the northern parts of Europe. -- Turf moss a tract of turfy, mossy, or boggy land. -- Turf spade, a spade for cutting and digging turf, longer and narrower than the common spade.

turf, v. t. 

 To cover with turf or sod; as, to turf a bank, or the border of a terrace.  A. Tucker.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

turf, n. & v.
--n. (pl. turfs or turves)
1 a a layer of grass etc. with earth and matted roots as the surface of grassland. b a piece of this cut from the ground.
2 a slab of peat for fuel.
3 (prec. by the) a horse-racing generally. b a general term for racecourses.
--v.tr.
1 cover (ground) with turf.
2 (foll. by out) esp. Brit. colloq. expel or eject (a person or thing).

Idiom

turf accountant Brit. a bookmaker.

Etymology

OE f. Gmc

THESAURUS

turf

alcohol, ambit, archery ground, area, athletic field, backyard, badminton court, bailiwick, banish, baseball field, basketball court, benzine, billiard parlor, bounce, bowling alley, bowling green, briquette, burnable, butane, carbon, charcoal, coal, coke, combustible, constituency, course, court, cricket ground, croquet ground, croquet lawn, diamond, dismiss, divot, dope, eject, ethane, ethanol, exile, expel, fairway, field, fire, fireball, firing, flammable, flammable material, football field, footing, fuel, fuel additive, fuel dope, gas, gas carbon, gasoline, glaciarium, golf course, golf links, grass, green, greensward, gridiron, gym, gymnasium, heptane, hexane, ice rink, infield, inflammable, inflammable material, isooctane, jet fuel, kerosene, lawn, links, methane, methanol, natural gas, octane, oil, orbit, oust, outfield, oval, paraffin, peat, pentane, playground, playing field, playroom, polo ground, pool hall, poolroom, propane, propellant, putting green, racecourse, racing, racket court, region, rink, rocket fuel, sack, skating rink, soccer field, sod, sphere, sphere of influence, squash court, stamping ground, stretch, sward, tennis court, territory, the turf, throw out, track, vantage

ROGET THESAURUS

turf

Contention

N contention, strife, contest, contestation, struggle, belligerency, opposition, controversy, polemics, debate, war of words, logomachy, litigation, paper war, high words, sparring, competition, rivalry, corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap, regatta, field day, sham fight, Derby day, turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana, boat race, torpids, wrestling, greco-roman wrestling, pugilism, boxing, fisticuffs, the manly art of self-defense, spar, mill, set-to, round, bout, event, prize fighting, quarterstaff, single stick, gladiatorship, gymnastics, jiujitsu, jujutsu, kooshti, sumo, athletics, athletic sports, games of skill, shindy, fracas, clash of arms, tussle, scuffle, broil, fray, affray, affrayment, velitation, colluctation, luctation, brabble, brigue, scramble, melee, scrimmage, stramash, bushfighting, free fight, stand up fight, hand to hand, running fight, conflict, skirmish, rencounter, encounter, rencontre, collision, affair, brush, fight, battle, battle royal, combat, action, engagement, joust, tournament, tilt, tilting, tournay, list, pitched battle, death struggle, struggle for life or death, life or death struggle, Armageddon, hard knocks, sharp contest, tug of war, naval engagement, naumachia, sea fight, duel, duello, single combat, monomachy, satisfaction, passage d'armes, passage of arms, affair of honor, triangular duel, hostile meeting, digladiation, deeds of arms, feats of arms, appeal to arms, pugnacity, combativeness, bone of contention, contending, together by the ears, at loggerheads, at war, at issue, competitive, rival, belligerent, contentious, combative, bellicose, unpeaceful, warlike, quarrelsome, pugnacious, pugilistic, gladiatorial, palestric, palestrical, a verbis ad verbera, a word and a blow, a very pretty quarrel as it stands, commune periculum concordiam parit, lis litem generat.

Arena

N arena, field, platform, scene of action, theater, walk, course, hustings, stare, boards, amphitheater, Coliseum, Colosseum, Flavian amphitheater, hippodrome, circus, race course, corso, turf, cockpit, bear garden, playground, gymnasium, palestra, ring, lists, tiltyard, tilting ground, Campus Martins, Champ de Allars, campus, boxing ring, canvas, theater of war, seat of war, battle-field, battle-ground, field of battle, field of slaughter, Aceldama, camp, the enemy's camp, trusting place.

Plain

N plain, table-land, face of the country, open country, champaign country, basin, downs, waste, weary waste, desert, wild, steppe, pampas, savanna, prairie, heath, common, wold, veldt, moor, moorland, bush, plateau, campagna, alkali flat, llano, mesa, mesilla, playa, shaking prairie, trembling prairie, vega, meadow, mead, haugh, pasturage, park, field, lawn, green, plat, plot, grassplat, greensward, sward, turf, sod, heather, lea, ley, lay, grounds, maidan, agostadero, champaign, alluvial, campestral, campestrial, campestrian, campestrine.

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.

Fuel

N fuel, firing, combustible, coal, wallsend, anthracite, culm, coke, carbon, charcoal, bituminous coal, tar shale, turf, peat, firewood, bobbing, faggot, log, cinder, ingle, tinder, touchwood, sulphur, brimstone, incense, port-fire, fire-barrel, fireball, brand, amadou, bavin, blind coal, glance coal, German tinder, pyrotechnic sponge, punk, smudge, solid fueled rocket, wax, paraffin wax, paraffin oil, lamp oil, whale oil, oil, petroleum, gasoline, high octane gasoline, nitromethane, petrol, gas, juice, gasohol, alcohol, ethanol, methanol, fuel oil, kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil, number 2 oil, number 4 oil, naphtha, rocket fuel, high specific impulse fuel, liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, lox, natural gas, synthetic gas, synthesis gas, propane, butane, hydrogen, brand, torch, fuse, wick, spill, match, light, lucifer, congreve, vesuvian, vesta, fusee, locofoco, linstock, candle, oil, carbonaceous, combustible, inflammable, high octane, high specific impulse, heat of combustion.

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