turf
part of speech
noun (turf; turves or turfs); verb (turf, turfs, turfed, turfing)
meaning for a pupil
1) Short grass and the layer of soil and roots under it. tree →
2) A square piece of this, cut to lay on the ground to make a lawn. tree →
3) (informal) Your own area or place that you feel belongs to you, such as a gang's streets or a team's home ground. tree →
4) (verb) To cover ground with turf. tree →
5) (UK, informal verb) «turf out»: to throw someone or something out roughly. tree →
6) Horse racing in general, «the turf». tree →
7) Turf can also mean dried peat cut from a bog and burned as fuel. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life: gardens, sports pitches, laying a new lawn. In science: soil, roots and grass. In stories, «on my turf» or «home turf» means a place a person or team knows and feels strong in. Phrases: «home turf», «turf war», «turf out», «artificial turf».
examples
- The gardeners laid fresh turf on the football pitch. tree →
- Dad bought twenty rolls of turf for the back garden. tree →
- The team played well on their home turf. tree →
- Keep off the new turf until it grows roots. tree →
- The caretaker turfed us out of the hall at five. tree →
- Two gangs fought a turf war in the film. tree →
- Artificial turf does not need mowing. tree →
- Next day Jack was to go clamp turf on the bog. tree →
note
Plural «turves» (UK) or «turfs». Turf is usually uncountable (some turf) but a piece is «a turf» or «a roll of turf». «Turf out» is informal UK. In maths, turf comes in areas: a roll 1 metre by 2 metres covers 2 square metres.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «turf» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.