▪ I. turf, n.1
(tɜːf)
Forms: 1– turf; also 4–7 turfe, 4–5 torf, 4 (8–9 dial.) turff, 6–7 turffe, (5 turfh, 6 turph, tourffe, torve, towrve, 6–7 turue, turve, 7 turfth, terf, turph); 6 toure, Sc. 6– turr, (8–9 toor, ture, 9 tour, -e, etc.). pl. 1 tyrf; 3–6 turues (v), (4–5 -uys, 6 Sc. -uis), 4–7 torues (v), (4–5 toruys), 6– turves (Sc. 6 tirvis); 5– turfs (6 tyrfes, 6–7 Sc. turreffis, turres, -is). β. 6 troffe, 7 truffe, 7–9 truff; pl. Sc. 6–7 truiffis, 6–8 troves, -is.
[OE. turf fem. cons. stem (gen.-dat. sing. and nom.-acc. pl. tyrf): Common Teut. (with variation of gender and declension); cf. OFris. turf (EFris. turf); OS. turf, (MDu. torf, turf, Du. turf), MLG., LG. torf (whence mod.Ger. torf peat); OHG. zurba, zurf ‘terra avulsa, cespes’, sod; ON. torf (Norw. torv, Sw. torf, Da. t{obar}rv):—OTeut. *turƀ-, from Indo Eur. *drbh: cf. Skr. darbhá tuft of grass, f. drbh to make into tufts, string together. From the Teut. came also med.L. turba (cf. turbary), F. tourbe (1200), It. torba, Sp. turba.]
1. a. A slab pared from the surface of the soil with the grass and herbage growing on it; a sod of grass, with the roots and earth adhering. Also, in early quots., a small portion of the sward in situ.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. (O.E.T.) 452 Cespites (pl.), tyrb. a 1000 Prose Life Guthlac xv. (1848) 64 Hi þa [flaxan] ᵹehyddon under anre tyrf. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. l. 290 Ðeos wyrt..of anre tyrf maneᵹa boᵹas asendeþ. c 1122 O.E. Chron. an. 189 Þa ᵹewrohte he [Seuerus] weall mid turfum, & bred weall ðær on ufon fram sæ to sæ. c 1205 Lay. 15395 Vortigerne þe king Bi-tæhte heom al þis lond {thbar} ne bilæfde him an heonde a turf of londe. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1167 Hervore hit is þat me þe suneþ & þe totorueþ & tobuneþ Mid staue & stone & turf & clute. a 1300 Cursor M. 16762 + 120 (Cott.) War-on he miȝt dee fayre, Ne a torf of herd erth. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 991 A bench of turues [v.rr. turves, torues] fressh and grene. c 1482 J. Kay tr. Caoursin's Siege of Rhodes (1870) ¶11 They made certayn dyches..and couered theym with grene bowes, and afterward they putted erthe and turues uppon the same. 1550 Bale Eng. Votaries ii. 57 b, His owne clergye wold scarsely suffer hym to be buryed about the church vndre turfes or soddes of the grasse. 1551 Robinson tr. More's Utop. i. (1895) 29 Vpon a benche coueryd wyth grene torues, we satte downe. 1691 Norris Pract. Disc. 252 There are some..that..will readily part with the great Reversion of another World for a Turf of Ground in present Possession. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 509 In a turf containing 6 plants the roots were all distinct. 1832 Planting 53 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The coping consisted of a row of turfs laid with the grass side upwards. 1851 Glenny Handbk. Fl. Gard. 40 The compost in which it should be grown is loam from rotted turves. |
b. collect., as a substance or material.
| 1565 Stapleton tr. Bede's Hist. Ch. Eng. 16 A trench and a rampaire of turue and timber, thyck fenced with bulwarkes and turrets. 1598 Barret Theor. Warres iii. ii. 132 A number of other places fortified with earth and turfe onely. 1774 M. Mackenzie Maritime Surv. 66 Cause Turrets, or Signals, of Stone or Turf, to be built. 1821 Byron Cain iii. i, They to me are so much turf And stone. |
† c. A clod of earth. Also
fig. cf. clod n. 4.
Obs.| 1607 Marston What you will ii. i, He is a turfe that will be slave to man. 1674 Abp. Leighton in Lauderdale Papers (Camden) III. 76 Those pains and distempers that hang about this litle crazy turf of earth y{supt} I carry. |
† d. A sod cut from the turf of an estate, etc., as a token or symbol of possession. Also in phrase
turf and twig.
Obs.| 1585 in H. Hall Soc. Eliz. Age (1886) 239 Delyvered lyke possession..by a turffe cutt there. 1613 R. Harcourt Voy. Guiana 42, I tooke possession of the land, by turfe and twig. 1643 Trapp Comm. Gen. xiv. 23 The most High God, possessour of heaven and earth, who hath sent me with this bread and wine, as by turfe and twig, as by an earnest, and a little for the whole, to give thee possession of both. |
2. a. collect. sing. The covering of grass and other plants, with its matted roots, forming the surface of grassland; the greensward; growing grass. Also
fig.| c 890 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. vi. (1890) 400 Sum stan ðære eorðan ᵹelic mid ðinre tyrf bewriᵹen. a 1000 Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 236/18 Feraces glebas, þa wæstmbære tyrf. Ibid. 240/27 Florei cespitis, blowendre tyrf. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 15 Vnder þe torf of þe lond is good marl i-founde. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iii. iv. 52 The Shepheard..Who you saw sitting by me on the Turph. 1634 Milton Comus 280 They left me weary on a grassie terf. 1721 Bradley Philos. Acc. Wks. Nat. 4 The first Stratum immediately under the Turff, a yellowish Clay. 1838 Lytton Alice i. i, The first few flowers and fresh turf of the reviving Spring. 1895 G. W. Smalley Stud. Men 144 Sunny glades clothed in rough turf. |
b. as a substance or material.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xvii. xiv. 518 To preserve it [the graft] with turfe and mosse against the injurie of rain and cold. 1632 Lithgow Trav. x. 429 These Fabrickes are..erected in a singular Frame of Smoake-torne straw, greene long prick'd truff [ed. 1682 turff], and Raine-dropping watles. 1706 Hearne Collect. 12 Apr. (O.H.S.) I. 223 The..Garden.. he order'd to be cover'd with Green Turff. 1874 J. D. Heath Croquet Player 87 If the subsoil be poor, the turf should not be placed directly on it, but on a layer of good earth some inches thick. |
3. a. A slab or block of peat dug for use as fuel.
But in many districts
turfs are distinguished from
peats, as being pared from a dry surface, containing roots of grass and recent herbage, and being lighter coloured, while
peats are usually dug from a ‘moss’ or bog, and consist chiefly of long-decayed and compressed vegetable matter, black or dark brown, formed from Sphagnum and other mosses.
| c 1300 Havelok 939 He bar þe turues, he bar þe star, Þe wode fro the brigge he bar. 1363 Cockersand Chartul. (Chetham Soc.) I. 64 To delfe turvez and carye at theyr wylle in y⊇ mosse of Gayrstang. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xv. lviii. (Bodl. MS.) Myres and mores in þe whiche þei diggeþ turues and makeþ fuyre þereof in stede of wode. 1506 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. I. 623/2 Licentiam ad capiendum genestam, petas et glebas, viz. le hadir, petis et turffis. 1536 Act 28 Hen. VIII in Bolton Stat. Irel. (1621) 77 The third part of all the tythe torves. 1557 Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872) 235 Castand tirvis..without licence. 1592 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 755/1 Turris. 1604 Urie Court-bk. (1892) 4 Fewaill..syik as petteis, turris, or haidder. 1637 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 237/2 Cum..libertate lucrandi lie peittis plodis et truffis in maresia sua. 1709 Lady G. Baillie Househ. Bk. (1911) 77 For 8 darg troves casting at 6 pence per day. 17.. Old Song in Jamieson s.v. Tour, O! is my corn a' shorn, he said, Or is my toors a' won? 1809 Med. Jrnl. XXI. 7 Turfs or peat, dug for fuel in the fenny parts of Cambridgshire. 1822 C. W. Wynn in Dk. Buckhm. Mem. Crt. Geo. IV (1859) I. 275 There are considerable apprehension in Ireland of distress from the utter failure of the potatoes,..and of the turves which they were prevented by the wet from cutting. |
b. collect. as a substance; peat.
| 1510 in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 394 Anny man to bring in wode, troffe, or vattil. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 133 Er winter preuenteth,..get home with thy wood,..both timber and furzen, the turfe and the cole. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 500 Abundance of turfe gotten for fewell. 1725 Bradley's Fam. Dict. s.v. Turfing Spade, In some Counties they call that Turf, which in others they name Peat, which is dug out of Fenny and Moorish Grounds. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 523 There is said to be coal on Raritan river,..and turf in Bethlehem. 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxvii, Swamps, green with treacherous verdure, or sable with turf, or, as they call them in Scotland, peat-bogs. 1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. ii. 12 All tenants had right of pasture, and sometimes of turf. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 233 Accumulations of partially decomposed vegetable matter form the substance known as peat or turf. |
4. the turf (often with capital T).
a. The grassy track or course over which horse-racing takes place; hence, the institution, action, or practice of horse-racing; the racing world.
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. Apr. 153/1 If you are a true sportsman, and have the honour of the turf at heart. 1771 P. Parsons Newmarket I. p. ii, The heroes of the Turf. 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue, Man of the turf, a horse racer, or jockey. 1803–5 W. Pick Turf Reg. (title-p.), All the Horses..that have appeared on the British and Irish Turfs as Racers. 1838 Lytton Alice iii. v, Have you any horses on the turf? 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 315 Already..there was among our nobility and gentry a passion for the amusements of the turf. |
b. transf. The road or street as the milieu of prostitutes, tramps, etc.;
esp. on the turf, engaged in prostitution.
slang.| 1860 Hotten Dict. Slang (ed. 2) 241 On the turf, one who occupies himself with race course business; said also of a street-walker. 1899 ‘J. Flynt’ Tramping i. ii. 28 The road proper, or ‘the turf’, as the people who toil along its stretches sometimes prefer to call it, is low life in general. 1936 H. Asbury French Quarter xii. 369 During [Kate Townsend's] early years ‘on the turf’, as the saying went, she was..thrifty and ambitious. 1962 Parker & Allerton Courage of his Convictions v. 179, I wouldn't let her go out on the turf, because of this thing I've got about not poncing. 1984 J. O'Donoghue Sergeant Horn's Murder Trap vi. 41 ‘I might have been one of Ma Dolma's brasses for all you know.’..‘Come off it. You've never been on the turf.’ |
5. Usu. with substantive in possessive case or with possessive
adj. orig. and chiefly
U.S. a. The streets controlled by a juvenile street-gang and regarded by them as their territory.
| 1953 Cramer & Karr Teen-Age Gangs i. 4 He had looked forward to drifting pleasantly through the Emerald turf—the term currently used in Brooklyn instead of territory. Ibid. 6 No War Hawk was safe if caught on the turf of the Emeralds. And no Emerald was safe on the turf of the War Hawks. 1959 H. E. Salisbury Shook-Up Generation i. 19 These blocks constituted the ‘turf’ of a well-known street-gang. 1964 [see chippy n. 4]. 1973 ‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed xx. 189 Like most American adolescent gangs..the Young Team attached enormous importance to territory and used the same word ‘turf’ for it. |
b. The part of a city or other area within which a criminal, detective, etc., operates.
Cf. patch n.1 3 e.
| 1962 Sat. Even. Post 28 Apr. 30/2 Her [sc. a social worker's] turf: the lower Bronx. 1966 ‘J. Ashford’ Consider Evidence iii. 23 She [sc. a prostitute] claimed she could make a hundred quid a week on her turf. 1971 N.Y. Times 10 Jan. xx-1/1, I came to Beverly Hills..to see the stars' home turf. 1976 D. Bennett Jigsaw Man (1977) viii. 153 Special Branch would not want to be involved in a killing so far from their own turf. 1978 S. Brill Teamsters ii. 48 As both men sat in prison, they were dividing up Teamsters turf. |
c. transf. and
fig. A person's sphere of influence or activity.
| 1970 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 17 Oct. 67/3 The lives of all our children and the very mindedness of society itself cannot be made whole as long as educators are obsessed by indecent needs to defend their own turfs. 1973 Family Circle Apr. 120/1 Male occupations are a turf from which women are excluded. 1977 J. F. Fixx Compl. Bk. Running xiii. 157 Dogs, he explained, are assiduous defenders of turf. 1982 ‘E. Lathen’ Green grow Dollars vii. 55 They think that, on their own turf, they can overawe Ackerman and Werzel. |
6. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as
turf-ashes,
turf-back (
back n.2),
turf-barge,
turf-bed,
turf-bog,
turf-cart,
turf-charcoal,
turf-fire,
turf-fuel,
turf-ground,
turf-heap,
turf-hole,
turf-house,
turf-land,
turf-moor,
turf-moss,
turf-nook,
turf-pit,
turf-pool,
turf-rick,
turf-shears,
turf-shed,
turf-smoke,
turf-stack,
turf-wain; made, built, or consisting of turf, as
turf-cabin,
turf-dike,
turf-hedge (Webster, 1828),
turf-hut,
turf-monument,
turf-roof,
turf-seat,
turf-walk,
turf-wall; also in sense 4, as
turf affair,
turf-associate,
turf-guide,
turf horse,
turf-market,
turf parlance,
turf phrase,
turf-racing,
turf-writer;
b. obj. and
obj. gen., as
turf-digger,
turf-getter,
turf-graver,
turf-worker;
turf-boring,
turf-cutting,
turf-forming,
turf-getting,
turf-graving ns. and
adjs.;
c. instrumental, etc., as
turf-bound,
turf-built,
turf-clad,
turf-coloured,
turf-covered,
turf-grown,
turf-laid,
turf-like,
turf-roofed,
turf-spread,
turf-theekit (
Sc.,
= thatched)
adjs.| 1825 T. Hook Sayings Ser. ii. Man of Many Fr. (Colburn) 195 The man to whose guidance I have committed all my *turf affairs. |
| 1763 Museum Rust. I. 221 One sort of ashes, which are on all accounts valuable; I mean peat or *turf-ashes. |
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xxviii, I boldly entered the house;..narrowly escaping breaking my shins over a *turf-back and a salting-tub. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 218 Father Conmee saw a *turf-barge... Father Conmee reflected on the providence of the Creator who had made turf to be in bogs where men might dig it out and bring it to town. |
| 1811 W. R. Spencer Poems 137 This *turf-bed with flow'rs Ever crown'd. |
| 1685 W. King in Phil. Trans. XV. 950, I chiefly impute the red, or *turf Bog to it [moss, called in the north of Ireland old wives' tow]. 1767 Bush Hibernia Cur. (1769) 76 By the natives it [peat] is called turf..and from thence they are usually called turf bogs. |
| 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. xxiii. (1818) II. 368 The common *turf-boring crane-fly (T[ipula] oleracea, L.)..moves over the grass with her body in a vertical position. |
| 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 219 Harrowing loosens the hardened, *turf-bound soil. |
| a 1748 J. Warton Ode to Fancy 5 My footsteps to thy temple guide, To offer at thy *turf-built shrine. 1803 Leyden Scenes of Inf. iii. 364 On Yeta's banks the vagrant gypsies place Their turf-built cots; a sun-burnt swarthy race. |
| 1865 Alex. Smith Summ. Skye v. 103 His school-house was a *turf-cabin. |
| 1557 in Lanc. & Chesh. Wills (1884) 61 Implements of husbandrye..ij *torve cartes. |
| 1839 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. II. 145/2 The iron founders..might probably..be supplied with *turf-charcoal. |
| 1782 V. Knox Ess. xciii. II. 45 The *turf-clad heap of mould which covers the poor man's grave. |
| 1916 Joyce Portrait of Artist (1969) i. 54 He had skin the same colour as the *turf-coloured bogwater in the..bath. |
| 1828 Webster, *Turf-covered. 1898 F. Davis Rom.-Brit. City Silchester 21 Over the turf-covered area, denudation is not inoperative. |
| 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 154 *Turf-cutting field. 1882 F. Pollock in Macm. Mag. XLVI. 362 It is subject..to rights of turf-cutting. |
| 1851 Mantell Petrifact. iii. §5. 308 A spade used by *turf diggers. |
| 1863 Kingsley Water Bab. v. 193 They liked better to brew potheen..shoot each other from behind *turf-dykes. |
| 1818 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 88 All my Irish *turf-fire habits came strong upon me. |
| 1880 Haughton Phys. Geog. vi. 301 Its meadows are clothed with *turf-forming grasses. |
| 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 383/2 *Turf fuel is also used most extensively in working the steam engine in many districts of Ireland. |
| 1751 Phil. Trans. XLVII. 221, I..have made all possible inquiry from the shepherds, *turf-getters, &c. |
| 1884 Cheshire Gloss. s.v. Turf, *Turf-getting is a peculiar industry carried on at most of the larger peat bogs, and notably at Lindow Common near Wilmslow. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 397/1 A *Turfe grauer, glebarius, turbarius. a 1905 in Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., (N. Yorks.) We cut turves wiv a turf-greeaver. |
| 1411 Rolls of Parlt. III. 650/1 Certein Commune of Pasture, and *Turf-gravyng, the whiche the said Lord the Roos claymes. |
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 8 As stable as clod-mould, or *turffe ground. |
| 1867 J. G. Whittier Tent Beach 10 Above..*turf-grown wall They saw the fort flag rise and fall. 1893 Pater Wks. (1901) VIII. 147 They went through the endless, lonely, turf-grown tracts. |
| 1868 Yates Rock Ahead i. vi, Ruff, Bell, Bailey, and other leading *turf-guides. |
| 1862 Borrow Wild Wales lxxxviii. (1911) 453 *Turf-heaps..are in abundance in the vicinity. |
| 1851 ― Lavengro xii, He had some difficulty in getting there on account of the *turf-holes in the bog. |
| c 1802 S. Chifney Genius Genuine (title-p.), Why the *Turf Horses Degenerate. |
| 1569 in Lanc. & Chesh. Wills (1884) 35 The haybarne and two bayes of the *turfehowse next the halle. 1789 J. Wesley Jrnl. 26 May (1916) VII. 502 Part of them [sc. his congregation] were sheltered by a spacious turf-house, and the rest little regarded the rain. 1967 H. Harrison Technicolor Time Machine (1968) v. 50 Smoke still drifted down from the chimney hole of the squat, turf house. |
| 1865 Alex. Smith Summ. Skye v. 101 We passed a colony of *turf-huts. |
| 1806 J. Grahame Birds Scot., etc. 141 Still shall the *turf-laid seat invite Thy weary limbs. |
| a 1625 Sir H. Finch Law (1636) 286 Likewise an assise is giuen for common of *Turue land, fishing, and such like. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 315 That ashes, coals, bones, potsherds, trees, &c. are frequently found in the turf-lands or marshes in Holland and Friesland. 1910 Westm. Gaz. 19 Mar. 10/2 Hard at work in converting the barren surface into turf-land. |
| 1841 Lever C. O'Malley xxx, A brown, scruffy, *turf-like face. |
| 1884 H. Smart From Post to Finish ix, One of the wiliest speculators in the *turf market. |
| 1695 J. Edwards Perfect. Script. 286 There are many of these *turf-monuments on Salisbury plain. |
| 1834–5 J. Phillips Geol. in Encycl. Metrop. VI. 595/2 The *turf or peat moors,..which occur in low ground toward the estuaries of rivers. |
| 1583–4 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 17 For workinge at the *tourffe mosse [= bog] nene dayes xiij{supd} ob. |
| 1840 A. Laing Wayside Flowers (1878) 37 The *truff neuk is toom o' its eenin' supply. |
| 1884 Marshall's Tennis Cuts 148 It is only played by what in *Turf-parlance we should call ‘crocks’, or gentlemen who are not physically capable of taking part in any other outdoor amusement. |
| Ibid. 141 From first to last Owen à Biscoe simply cantered away (to use a *turf phrase) from his antagonist. |
| 1678 Massacre in Ireland 4 Thousands..were drowned, cast into Ditches, Bogs, and *Turf-pits. |
| 1764 Museum Rust. II. cvi. 355 The pits, or *turf-pools as they are commonly called. |
| 1828 Sporting Mag. XXII. 235 His happiness was road-racing, as it is now *turf-racing. |
| 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. iv, A dozen men, who seemed to come out of a *turf-rick. |
| 1871 W. Morris in Mackail Life (1899) I. 247 Close by the sea lay the many gables (black wood with green *turf-roofs). |
| 1842 I. Williams Baptistery ii. xxxii. (1874) 188 With each her Saviour deigns to dwell E'en in the *turf-roof'd cell. |
| 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, The old man was seated on the deas, or *turf-seat, at the end of his cottage. |
| 1822 Loudon Encycl. Gard. §617 *Turf-Shears.., for cutting the tops of box-edgings and the tufts of grass at the roots of shrubs. |
| 1912 Daily News 4 Oct. 6 The peat..has been stacked by now in rick or *turf-shed ready for the winter's burning. |
| 1815 Scott Guy M. xxvi, Fish, dried in the *turf smoke of their cabins, or shealings. |
| 1743 Lady G. Baillie Househ. Bk. (1911) 279 That the *Turf Stack be not tred down. |
| 1881 Mod. Scott. Poets III. 75 Thy *turf-theekit roof. |
| 1589 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 52 For dryvinge a *turffe-wane a fortenyghte, xvj{supd}. |
| 1902 Cornish Naturalist Thames 181 Half wild banks, and *turfwalk stretches for nearly a mile among the fields. |
| 1849 Thoreau Week Concord Riv. 168 But as it were, by a *turf wall this valley was concealed. 1911 J. Ward Rom. Era Brit. iii. 70 No trace of a turf-wall has been found. |
| 1865 Daily Tel. 1 Nov. 5/1 ‘Warning off’ intruders, whether defaulting betters, or *turf-writers whose criticisms were displeasing. |
d. Special combs:
turf-accountant, a bookmaker in horse-racing;
turf-ant, a small yellow European ant (
Formica flava, or
Lasius flavus), living in dry heathy turf;
turf-boy (see
quots.);
turf-cake, a tea-cake baked in a covered pan among the ashes of a peat-fire;
turf-cutter, one who is employed in cutting or digging peat; also, a
turf-spade; also, a paring-plough or
turf-plough;
turf-drain, a drain in which the channel is covered by turves placed over it; a sod-drain; so
turf-draining;
† turf-graft [
graft n.3], the right to dig turf for fuel; also, a place where turf is dug, a turbary;
turf-hog: see
quot.;
turf-knife, a cutting blade set upright in a curved handle, which is pushed along to mark out turves, lines of ditches, etc. (Ogilvie, 1882);
turf-line, a line formed from turf;
spec. in an archæological excavation, a layer of soil representing former grassland;
turf-man, a devotee of the turf, a racing man;
† turf-penny, a rent or due paid for turbary;
turf-plough, a plough for paring off the surface to destroy weeds and grubs preparatory to deep ploughing (Knight
Dict. Mech. (1877);
turf-spade, a spade for cutting turf or peats; also, a turfing-iron;
turf-spanker, name for a kind of croquet mallet: see
quot.;
turf-stick, a stick from a turbary or peat-bog;
turf-tie: see
tye;
turf-time, the season for digging turf, usually between hay-time and harvest;
turf-worm, the sod-worm (
sod n.1 5).
| 1915 Scots Pictorial 27 Mar. p. iv, The time when the standing and stability of all *turf accountants are put to the test. |
| 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1818) II. 94 The little *turf-ants (F[ormica] cæspitum, L.) carry their recruits uncoiled. |
| 1905 Blackw. Mag. Jan. 58 There was the *turf boy whose duty it was to fill the turf-boxes. 1906 Somerville & Ross Irish Yesterdays 71 In those days the turf-boy was an institution... All day they plied bare-foot between the turf-house and the various fuel-depôts of the house with baskets. |
| 1863 Mrs. Gaskell Sylvia's L. iii, Neither cream nor finest wheaten flour was wanting for ‘*turf-cakes’ and ‘singing-hinnies’. |
| 1817–18 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 129 The surface of the land is taken off to a depth of two or three inches... In England, this operation is performed with a *turf-cutter, and by hand. 1844 in Whitelaw Bk. Scot. Song (1875) 228, I promised to rove With the turf-cutter's daughter. 1860 G. H. K. in Vac. Tour. 164 The turf-cutter left her divots unturned. |
| 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. Plate xlviii. 332 Fig. 1. Represents a shouldered *turf-drain. |
| c 1830 Glouc. Farm Rep. 26 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III. *Turf-draining answers well, where the turf is strong enough to bear ramming. |
| 1313 Yorkshire Deeds (Yorks. Archæol. Soc.) II. 18 [His common of pasture with] le *turff graft [from either moor]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 396/2 Turfe grafte, turbarium. 1773 Holme-on-Sp. Moor Inclos. Act 2 Which privilege of selling turves is called Turf-Graft. |
| 1880 Dawkins Early Man viii. 261 The third group consists of the short-horned ox, the *turf-hog, and the goat, which escaped from the servitude of man and reverted to a wild state. |
| 1841 Thoreau Jrnl. 20 Apr. in Coll. Wks. (1906) VII. 251 The ditching spade and *turf knife may be engraved on the coat-of-arms of his posterity. |
| 1935 E. H. W. Meyerstein Verse Lett. to Five Friends (1954) 11 One joy..To take the *turf-line of the Pilgrim Road. 1936 Proc. Prehist. Soc. II. 214 Well marked turf lines isolated these ditches from the Iron Age above them. 1957 V. G. Childe Dawn Europ. Civilization (ed. 6) i. 3 Fossil turf-lines of Atlantic age. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles vi. 119 At the surface of the buried soil is a thin stone-free horizon or turf line... This is caused by earthworm sorting. |
| 1818 Sporting Mag. II. 214, I never was a *turfman, and am only a spectator. 1881 Scribner's Mag. XXII. 642 The form which turfmen love to see in a horse which they have backed heavily. |
| 1282 Inquis. P.M. (C.) Edw. I, File 31. m. 3 (P.R.O.) Coterii et bondi reddunt per annum de consuetudine que vocatur *Turfpeny et grundpeni xlviij s. x d. |
| 1477–8 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 95 Pro j *Turfspade, viijd. 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. 2101 The turf-spade or turfing iron is employed to separate the individual turves. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Turf-spade, turf-spit, the implement or tool used in graving Turves,..a triangular cutting instrument with one upright side, to sever the Turf sideways as well as from the subsoil. |
| 1874 J. D. Heath Croquet-Player 25 The bottom of the cylindrical head..is sliced off, so that the part of the mallet that rests on the ground is quite flat. This ‘*turf-spanker’..met with some opposition at first. |
| 1843 Florist's Jrnl. (1846) IV. 86 A mixture of loam and peat, with all the *turf-sticks, etc. contained in it, should be well chopped with the spade and mixed with some rich garden mould. |
| 1912 Daily News 28 Feb. 4 Every Dartmoor farmer has his *turf-tie lying somewhere near his farm in a hollow between the tors. |
| 1594 Shuttleworth's Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 90 He is to be hired for haytyme, *turvetyme and harvest. |
▸
turf war n. (a) Sport a dispute regarding horse-racing, or between organizations involved in the business of horse-racing; (also) a horse-race;
(b) colloq. (chiefly
N. Amer.), a dispute over territory;
freq. in extended use.
| 1897 N.Y. Times 26 July 3/4 Unless either the Queens County Jockey Club or the Metropolitan Turf Association gives in to the terms offered by the other..a lively *turf war will be waged. 1969 N.Y. Times 2 Nov. s9/1 Ring, a Washington sportsman who returned to the turf wars a little over two years ago... bought Czar Alexander as a 2-year-old for $32,000. 1979 Science 204 1060 (heading) Jump in funding feeds research on nutrition. But the dollars also fuel a departmental turf war that threatens to sap the field of its newfound nourishment. 2001 Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 18–24 May 6/2 Lemmer has been offered an insight into why the Cape Town police have been unable to stop the gang turf wars that have claimed more than 100 lives since the start of the year. |
▪ II. † turf, tyrf, n.2 Forms: 5–6
tyrf(e,
turfe,
turff(e;
pl. 6
turves: see also
tarf,
tarve.
[f. root of tirve v.2 to turn, roll back.] The turn-over, turn-up, or facing of a cap, hood, sleeve, etc.; a cock (of a cap, etc.). Also
attrib.| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 494/2 Tyrf, or tyrvynge vp on an hoode or sleue (K. tyrfe or turnynge vp aȝen, S. tyrwynge of an hoode, A. tyrvyng of an hood, etc., P. tyrfte or turnynge vp agayne), resolucio (H., S. revolucio). 1522 in Archæologia XXV. 460 Item..for a black bonett w{supt} a dobill turffe y{supt} was dressyd w{supt} velvett vj s. viij d. 1530 Palsgr. 281/2 Tyrfe of a cappe or suche lyke, rebras. Ibid. 284/1 Turfe. 1546–7 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 6 For making of one doble turff Cappe of vellett. 1547 Ibid. 10, xij hedpeces to the same Rounde of clothe of Syluer the Turffes of Crymsin Tilsent bownde with yolowe Satten. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII 235 Euery man..garnyshed their bassenetes with turues lyke cappes of sylke. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 947/1. |
▪ III. turf, v.1 Also 5–7
turve.
[f. turf n.1] 1. a. trans. To cover with turf; to lay with turf.
| c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 181 Alle the aleis were made playne with sond, The benches turued with newe turvis grene. a 1500 Flower & Leaf 51 A plesaunt herber..That benched was, and [al] with turves new Freshly turved. 1644 G. Plattes in Hartlib's Legacy (1655) 187 Barley..had cover'd the ground so full, that it was as if it were even turfed with the Corn. a 1774 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 299 After you have new turfed the banks. 1882 C. F. Woolson Anne 118 Graves are made and turfed over. |
b. transf. To place or lay under the turf; to cover with turf, or as turf does; to bury; also
intr. with
it, to die and be buried.
| 1628 [see turfed ppl. a.]. 1763 Cowper Let. in Nichols Lit. Anecd. 18th C. (1814) VIII. 563 That you may not think I have turfed it, to speak in the Newmarket phrase..I send you this letter. 1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. xxxii, Until the governor was turfed. 1859 Tennyson Merlin & V. 655 As vast a mound As after furious battle turfs the slain. 1888 G. Meredith Question Whither i, You who sadly turf us, Believe not that all living seed Must flower above the surface. |
2. To dig up or excavate for turf or peat.
| 1780 Ingenhousz in Phil. Trans. LXX. 372 Draining a large meer..which was turfed out in former ages. 1878 J. Davidson Inverurie 352 They protected the burgh muir from being indiscriminately turfed. |
3. intr. To get turf or peat for fuel.
dial.| 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v. Turf-spit, ‘We're turfing’, getting our turves for a winter supply. 1896 Baring-Gould Dartmoor Idylls v. 131 Her wants to take the washing..and the turving out o' my hands. |
4. trans. To throw or kick (a person, etc.) forcibly
out (
occas. off); also
transf. colloq. Without
const. (
Public School slang), to kick.
| 1888 Kipling Only Subaltern in Under Deodars 97 The Colonel will turf you out of that in double quick time. 1905 H. A. Vachell Hill ii. 32 Sorry I turfed that little ass so hard... [Note] To ‘turf’, i.e. to kick—Harroviana. 1925 Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves! 90 The old boy turfed me out, Bertie, because he said I was a brainless nincompoop. 1930 J. B. Priestley Angel Pavement viii. 410 She'd bought hundreds of them [sc. magazines]. I've just had them turfed out. 1957 C. MacInnes City of Spades ii. iv. 128 The guv'nor tried turfing them all out at first..but he's given up the struggle. 1976 J. I. M. Stewart Memorial Service iv. 58 These people have become my colleagues. If you use that sort of language about them I'll have to turf you out myself. 1977 ‘O. Jacks’ Autumn Heroes iv. 60 The plane's loaded... I can't turf off passengers. |
▪ IV. † turf, v.2 Variant of
tirve v.
2 (sense 2 c):
cf. turf n.2 Obs.| 1592 Greene Def. Conny Catch. (1859) 60 A beaver hatte turft with velvet, so quaintly as if he had been some Espagnolo trickt up. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster iv. i, Marry, the steward would have had the velvet head [of the deer]..to turf his hat withal. |