turfy, a.
(ˈtɜːfɪ)
Forms: see turf n.1
[f. turf n.1 + -y.]
1. Covered with or consisting of turf; grassy; turfen; in quot. 1733, of arable land: full of weeds and roots, not ‘clean’.
| 1552 Huloet, Turffie, or of turfe, cespitius, a. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. i. 62 Thy Turphie-Mountaines, where liue nibling Sheepe. 1685 Pomfret Cruelty & Lust 149 When Charion saw me from his turfy bed. 1718 Rowe tr. Lucan 137 Each to his turphy Table bids his Guest. 1733 Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xi. 136 The Third Crop made that Land so Foul and Turffy, that 'twas forc'd to lie for a Fallow. 1818 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life (1870) II. ii. 23 A turfy, almost inaccessible hill, called Finchamstead Ridges. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey II. 185 We made our way along a turfy level to the city. |
2. Of the nature of or abounding in turf or peat; peaty.
| 1660 H. More Myst. Godl. vi. vii. 231 For what of the Earth is not combustible? The exteriour turfy part is ordinary fewel. a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Lanc. (1662) ii. 107 They pierce the Turffie ground, and under it meet with a black and deadish water. 1776 Withering Brit. Plants (1796) II. 362 Alisma ranunculoides..Lesser Thrumwort Wet turfy bogs... Boggy meadows, common. Bungay, Suffolk. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 509 He uses turfy loam two parts, thoroughly decomposed dung two parts, leaf mould two parts, and very sandy turfy peat two parts. 1870 Hooker Stud. Flora 302 Centunculus minimus... Wet turfy and sandy places, local. |
3. Pertaining to or characteristic of the turf; suggestive of horse-racing; horsy.
| 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxvi, It was an easy, horse⁓fleshy, turfy sort of thing to do. 1868 Yates Rock Ahead ii. vii, The man has an air of turfey, horsey life. 1885 ‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay ii, The talk became..of the Turf—turfy. |
Hence ˈturfiness, turfy character, horsiness.
| 1905 Daily Chron. 22 June 4/4 Each American newcomer feels..at first horribly out of it in this world of universal turfyness. |