turf English · revision 39769

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English, Corpus Glossary|origins=gem-pro *turbz}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /tɜːf/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /tɝf/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|turf]], [[inh|ang|turf|t=sod, greensward]],^(AHD 2024)^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 2026) [[inh|gem-pro|*turbz]].^(RHWU)^(Hoad 1986)^(Ayto 2005) Its Germanic cognates are [[ofs|turf]], [[osx|turf]], [[nl|turf]], [[gml|torf]], from which [[de|Torf|t=peat]] was taken, [[goh|zurba]] and [[non|torf]].^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(SOED 2002)^(Klein 1966) Outside Germanic it is compared with [[sa|दर्भ|tr=darbhá|t=tuft of grass]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) and Watkins, as Etymonline reports, takes both from an Indo-European root meaning to wind or compress.^(Etymonline) The Germanic word was borrowed into Romance as [[fro|tourbe|t=peat]], [[it|torba]] and [[es|turba]], and into Medieval Latin as ''turba'', the source of [[turbary]].^(Ayto 2005)^(Partridge 1966)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A slab of earth cut from the ground with the grass growing on it, a sod: Old English, in the Corpus Glossary,^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline) before 800 in Barnhart.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Barnhart 1995) The collective sense, the grass and its matted roots covering grassland, is also Old English, in the translation of Bede.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A block of peat dug for fuel is called ''turf'' from about 1300, in ''Havelok'',^(OED 2026)^(Hoad 1986) and in Ireland and many English dialects the word still means peat.^(Wright 1898)^(SOED 2002) From the grass surface of the racecourse, ''the turf'' has meant horse racing and its world since 1755;^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021) Weekley compared ''the boards'' for the stage.^(Weekley 1921) In 19th-century slang ''the turf'' was the street as the haunt of prostitutes and tramps (1860).^(OED 2026)^(GDoS) The modern sense of a territory claimed by someone began in American use with the streets held by a youth gang (1953) and spread to a criminal's or detective's patch (1962),^(OED 2026)^(Cresswell 2021) giving ''turf war'' in the 1970s;^(Cresswell 2021) figuratively it is anyone's sphere of activity or influence.^(Collins 2023) The verb, to cover with turf, is recorded from about 1430,^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988) and the colloquial ''turf out'', to throw someone out, from 1888, in Kipling.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – a sod; the grassy surface of the ground.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1300 – a block of peat.^(OED 2026)

+ * c1430 – verb, to cover with turf.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1755 – ''the turf'', horse racing.^(OED 2026)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1860 – (slang) the street as the haunt of prostitutes.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1888 – ''turf out'', to throw out.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1953 – (US) a gang's territory.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1962 – an area of operation.^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The top layer of soil with the [[grass]] growing in it and the roots matted together; [[sod]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A piece of this cut from the ground: ''They laid fresh turves on the bare patch.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # [[peat|alt=Peat]], or a block of peat used as fuel.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # ''The turf'': horse racing as a sport or business; also a [[racecourse]].^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (informal) An area regarded by a person or group as their own territory or [[sphere]] of influence: ''The two agencies fought over turf.''^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cover ground with turf.^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (chiefly British, informal) To throw or force someone out, usually with ''out'': ''They were turfed out of the flat.''^(Collins 2023)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[turfy]]

+ * [[turfless]]

+ * [[turflike]]

+ * [[lilyturf]]

+ * [[returf]]

+ * [[turfgrass]]

+ * [[turfman]]

+ * [[AstroTurf]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[turbary]]

+ * [[sod]]

+ * [[peat]]

+ * [[surf and turf]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}