turf
English
editEtymology
editFrom 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”).
Pronunciation
edit- (General American) IPA(key): /tɝf/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /tɜːf/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)f
- Homophone: TERF
Noun
editturf (countable and uncountable, plural turfs or turves)
- (uncountable) A layer of earth covered with grass; sod.
- 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
- 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.
- 2018 May 26, Daniel Taylor, “Liverpool go through after Mohamed Salah stops Manchester City fightback”, in The Guardian (London)[1]:
- It was a sixth successive defeat for Klopp in a major final and at the final whistle, with Karius burying his face into the turf, there was not exactly a stampede of team-mates wanting to console him.
- (countable) 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.
- 1906, Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill:
- "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.
- 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King:
- Frodo and Sam went forward and saw that amidst the clamorous host were set three high-seats built of green turves.
- (countable) A block of peat used as fuel.
- 1908, Karl Gayer and W. R. Fisher, edited by Sir William Schlich, Forest Utilization (Schlich's Manual of Forestry):
- 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.
- 1945 January and February, “Notes and News: Locomotive Firing with Turf”, in Railway Magazine, page 46:
- […] the fireman has to divide his time between getting up into the bunker to throw more turfs into the cab, and getting down on his hands and knees to get it into the firebox, and even then a reserve supply of turf must be carried on a truck behind the engine, and stops must be made on each steep ascent to raise more steam.
- (uncountable, countable) A thick, carpet-like bed of algae.
- 1980, An Ecological Characterization of the Pacific Northwest Coastal Region, volumes 1-2, page 84:
- The turf layer is made up of filamentous and thallose red algae.
- (uncountable, specifically) A surface of synthetic fibers made to look like grass; artificial turf.
- In climates where grass struggles to grow, turf is usually used instead on sports fields.
- 2022 November 13, Dennis Young, “49ers continue fight against turf fields: 'Owners choose to save money'”, in SFGate[2], archived from the original on 2023-10-12:
- The Niners have nine games left on the schedule, and only one visit to a turf field. That turf in Seattle is not slit film; while the NFL admits slit film fields lead to more ankle sprains, the league insists that turf is otherwise no more dangerous than grass.
- 2023 September 13, Albert Breer, “In Grass Vs. Turf Debate, NFL Owners Still Won't Spend to Protect Their Players”, in Sports Illustrated[3], New York, N.Y.: Arena Group Holdings, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-09-14:
- And accommodating all those events has made it harder and harder for teams to maintain grass fields. It's easier, cheaper and less time-consuming just to throw turf down and call it a day, hence artificial surfaces popping up even in outdoor stadiums and Sun-Belt cities such as Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn.
- 2023 November 21, Sarah Law, “Thunder Bay's long-awaited indoor turf facility delayed again as council seeks to cut costs”, in CBC News[4], archived from the original on 2023-12-15:
- Thunder Bay Coun. Mark Bentz has put forward a referral of a motion that would see the indoor turf facility capped at around $30 million. Councillors voted in favour of the decision, which will see further consultations with user groups about how to re-scope the project.
- (uncountable, slang) A territory claimed by a gang as their own.
- (uncountable, by extension) A person's domain or sphere of influence.
- (uncountable, with "the", sports) A racetrack, hippodrome.
- (uncountable, with "the", sports) The sport of racing horses.
Derived terms
editTranslations
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Verb
editturf (third-person singular simple present turfs, present participle turfing, simple past and past participle turfed)
- To cover with turf; to create a lawn by laying turfs.
- (Ultimate Frisbee) To throw a frisbee well short of its intended target, usually causing it to hit the ground within 10 yards of its release.
- (business) To fire from a job or dismiss from a task.
- Eight managers were turfed after the merger of the two companies.
- (business) To cancel a project or product.
- The company turfed the concept car because the prototype performed poorly.
- (informal, transitive) To expel, eject, or throw out; to turf out.
- 1968, Eric Herne, The Haunted Islands[5], page 18:
- 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.
- 1988, Simon Haw with Richard Frame, For Hearth and Home: The Story of Maritzburg College, 1863-1988[6], page 166:
- At the same time as College was being unceremoniously turfed from their premises, a similar process was affecting the Estcourt School.
- (medical slang, transitive) To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for.
- 1996, Jeffrey E. Nash, James M. Calonico, The Meaning of Social Interaction: An Introduction to Social Psychology[7], page 139:
- "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).
Derived terms
editTranslations
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Anagrams
editDutch
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editFrom Middle Dutch torf, from Old Dutch *torf, from Proto-West Germanic *turb, from Proto-Germanic *turbz (“turf, lawn”), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”).
Noun
editturf m (plural turven, diminutive turfje n)
Derived terms
editEtymology 2
editSee the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
editturf
- inflection of turven:
Anagrams
editHungarian
editEtymology
edit(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
editNoun
editturf (plural turfok)
Declension
editInflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | turf | turfok |
accusative | turfot | turfokat |
dative | turfnak | turfoknak |
instrumental | turffal | turfokkal |
causal-final | turfért | turfokért |
translative | turffá | turfokká |
terminative | turfig | turfokig |
essive-formal | turfként | turfokként |
essive-modal | — | — |
inessive | turfban | turfokban |
superessive | turfon | turfokon |
adessive | turfnál | turfoknál |
illative | turfba | turfokba |
sublative | turfra | turfokra |
allative | turfhoz | turfokhoz |
elative | turfból | turfokból |
delative | turfról | turfokról |
ablative | turftól | turfoktól |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
turfé | turfoké |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
turféi | turfokéi |
Possessive forms of turf | ||
---|---|---|
possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
1st person sing. | turfom | turfjaim |
2nd person sing. | turfod | turfjaid |
3rd person sing. | turfja | turfjai |
1st person plural | turfunk | turfjaink |
2nd person plural | turfotok | turfjaitok |
3rd person plural | turfjuk | turfjaik |
Further reading
edit- turf in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
Middle English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Old English turf, from Proto-West Germanic *turb, from Proto-Germanic *turbz.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editturf (plural turfes or turves)
Descendants
editReferences
edit- “turf, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Old English
editEtymology
editFrom Proto-West Germanic *turb, from Proto-Germanic *turbz.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editturf f (nominative plural tyrf)
Declension
editDescendants
editReferences
edit- Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) “turf”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary[8], 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Romanian
editEtymology
editBorrowed from French turf, from English turf.
Noun
editturf n (plural turfuri)
Declension
editsingular | plural | |||
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indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) turf | turful | (niște) turfuri | turfurile |
genitive/dative | (unui) turf | turfului | (unor) turfuri | turfurilor |
vocative | turfule | turfurilor |
Spanish
editEtymology
edit(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
editturf m (plural turfs)
- (with definite article, sports) turf (a racetrack, hippodrome; or the sport of racing horses.)
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *derbʰ-
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)f
- Rhymes:English/ɜː(ɹ)f/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- English nouns with irregular plurals
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with usage examples
- English slang
- en:Sports
- English verbs
- en:Business
- English informal terms
- English transitive verbs
- English medical slang
- Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation
- Dutch terms with audio links
- Rhymes:Dutch/ʏrf
- Rhymes:Dutch/ʏrf/1 syllable
- Dutch terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Dutch terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *derbʰ-
- Dutch terms inherited from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Middle Dutch
- Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch
- Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch
- Dutch terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Dutch terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Dutch terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Dutch terms inherited from Proto-Indo-European
- Dutch lemmas
- Dutch nouns
- Dutch nouns with plural in -en
- Dutch masculine nouns
- Dutch informal terms
- Dutch non-lemma forms
- Dutch verb forms
- Hungarian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Hungarian/urf
- Rhymes:Hungarian/urf/1 syllable
- Hungarian lemmas
- Hungarian nouns
- hu:Sports
- Middle English terms inherited from Old English
- Middle English terms derived from Old English
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Middle English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English nouns
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Old English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Old English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Old English lemmas
- Old English nouns
- Old English feminine nouns
- Old English consonant stem nouns
- Romanian terms borrowed from French
- Romanian terms derived from French
- Romanian terms derived from English
- Romanian lemmas
- Romanian nouns
- Romanian countable nouns
- Romanian neuter nouns
- ro:Sports
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish nouns
- Spanish countable nouns
- Spanish masculine nouns
- es:Sports