Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Turf

Definition: Turf

Turf

Noun

1. Surface layer of ground containing a matt of grass and grass roots.

2. The territory claimed by a juvenile gang as its own.

3. (informal) range of jurisdiction or influence: "a bureaucracy...chiefly concerned with turf...and protecting the retirement system".

Verb

1. Cover with turf.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "turf" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references)


Specialty Definition: Turf

DomainDefinition

Dream Interpretation

To dream of a racing turf, signifies that you will have pleasure and wealth at your command, but your morals will be questioned by your most intimate friends.
To see a green turf, indicates that interesting affairs will hold your attention. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....

Food & Agriculture

A surface layer of soil matted or held together by roots, rhizomes and stolons of grasses and other herbs ; sliced section of soil with grass and roots intact. Source: European Union. (references)
 Sod or grass; a stand of grass is the same, although turf generally is used to describe a heavy stand. Source: European Union. (references)

Mining

A. Same as peat. There are several varieties, as white, brown, black, stone, gas, or candle turf b. Sod, the upper strata of topsoil filled with the roots of grass andother small plants. (references)

Slang in 1811

TURF. On the turf; persons who keep running horses, or attend and bet at horse-races, are said to be on the turf. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Turf

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
EntrySourceExpressionField

TURF

EnglishThorium Uranium Recycling FacilityNuclear Energy & Physics

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms: Turf

Synonyms: greensward (n), sod (n), sward (n). (additional references)

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Synonyms within Context: Turf

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Amusement

Athletic sports, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament, pugilism; (contention); sports; horse racing, the turf; aquatics; skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis; hockey, football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, basketball; rackets, fives, trap bat and ball, battledore and shuttlecock, la grace; pall-mall, tipcat, croquet, golf, curling, pallone, polo, water polo; tent pegging; tilting at the ring, quintain; greasy pole; quoits, horseshoes, discus; rounders, lacrosse; tobogganing, water polo; knurr and spell.

Arena

Noun: arena, field, platform; scene of action, theater; walk, course; hustings; stare, boards; (playhouse); amphitheater; Coliseum, Colosseum; Flavian amphitheater, hippodrome, circus, race course, corso, turf, cockpit, bear garden, playground, gymnasium, palestra, ring, lists; tiltyard, tilting ground; Campus Martins, Champ de Allars; campus.

Beginning

Handsel; take the first step, lay the first stone, cut the first turf; break ground, break the ice, break cover; pass the Rubicon, cross the Rubicon; open fire, open the ball; ventilate, air; undertake.

Contention

Competition, rivalry; corrivalry, corrivalship, agonism, concours, match, race, horse racing, heat, steeple chase, handicap; regatta; field day; sham fight, Derby day; turf, sporting, bullfight, tauromachy, gymkhana; boat race, torpids.

Fuel

Coal, wallsend, anthracite, culm, coke, carbon, charcoal, bituminous coal, tar shale; turf, peat, firewood, bobbing, faggot, log; cinder. (products of combustion); ingle, tinder, touchwood; sulphur, brimstone; incense; port-fire; fire-barrel, fireball, brand; amadou, bavin; blind coal, glance coal; German tinder, pyrotechnic sponge, punk, smudge; solid fueled rocket.

Intention

Drawing lots; sortilegy, sortition; sortes, sortes Virgilianae; rouge et noir, hazard, ante, chuck-a-luck, crack-loo, craps, faro, roulette, pitch and toss, chuck, farthing, cup tossing, heads or tails cross and pile, poker-dice; wager; bet, betting; gambling; the turf.

Gambler, gamester; man of the turf; adventurer; dicer.

Plain

Meadow, mead, haugh, pasturage, park, field, lawn, green, plat, plot, grassplat, greensward, sward, turf, sod, heather; lea, ley, lay; grounds; maidan, agostadero.

Vegetable

Bush, jungle, prairie; heath, heather; fern, bracken; furze, gorse, whin; grass, turf; pasture, pasturage; turbary; sedge, rush, weed; fungus, mushroom, toadstool; lichen, moss, conferva, mold; growth; alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan; blow, blowth; floret, petiole; pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Turf

English words defined with "turf": Bowling Green, BreastploughCespitous, Common of turbarydivot, Down-shareground cover, groundcoverHagItalian rye, Italian ryegrassLolium multiflorumQuadrelScrawTurbary, Turbinaceous, Turf drain, Turf hedge, Turf house, Turf spade, Turfed, Turfen, Turfing, Turfing iron, Turfing spade, Turfite, Turfless, Turfman, Turfs, Turfy, TurvesVell. (references)
Specialty definitions using "turf": alexeyevitegolf-course patroller, GOLF-COURSE RANGER, GREENSKEEPER I, GREENSKEEPER II, greenskeeper, headkiller microlaborer, golf course, LAWN-SERVICE WORKERmallan, MAN OF THE TURFROYCROFTERSUPERINTENDENT, GREENS. (references)
Etymologies containing "turf": Cespitine, Cespititious, CespitoseDivot, Down-shareGazonhassockScrawTurbary, Turfite. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Turf" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Czech (racetrack), Dutch (peat), French (turf), Hungarian (turf, turves), Romanian (turf), Spanish (turf).

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Modern Usage: Turf

DomainUsage

Screenplays

I have a degree in psychology, it goes with the turf Games are fun. (Basic Instinct; writing credit: Joe Eszterhas)

Lyrics

It's A Turf War (Black or White; performing artist: Michael Jackson; writing credit: Michael Jackson)

Movie/TV Titles

Tanbark and Turf (1955)

Kings of the Turf (1941)

King of the Turf (1939)

Luck of the Turf (1937)

Les As du turf (1932)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Turf

DomainTitle

Books

  • Do-It-Yourself Marriage Enrichment: A Workshop on Your Own Time, on Your Own Terms, on Your Own Turf (reference)

  • Growing Media for Ornamental Plants and Turf (reference)

  • Secrets of Professional Turf Betting (reference)

  • Turf Management for Golf Courses, 2nd Edition (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

  

High Tech

  

Consumer Goods

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Turf

Illustrations:
Turf

More pictures...

Computer Images:
Turf

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Turf

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

A slide describing the purpose of the eelgrass restoration and its partners. In June 1996 NOAA scientists transplanted 7000 eelgrass plants from Charlestown Pond to ten locations in Narragansett Bay. The project team returned the following September and found mixed results. In June 1997, the team expanded two of the successful sites and employed a new technique by transplanting turf. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

The first in a series of images showing NOAA scientists at the 1997 transplant site just before transplanting the eelgrass turf. Scientists worked in dry suits in the cold Bay waters and used surface air supplies at the mostly shallow sites. Zostera marina requires a specific set of physical conditions to thrive. The plants need light, nutrients and protection from excessive wave energy. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

The fifth in a series of images showing NOAA scientists at the 1997 transplant site just before transplanting the eelgrass turf. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

The sixth in a series of images showing NOAA scientists at the 1997 transplant site just before transplanting the eelgrass turf. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

The last in a series of images showing NOAA scientists at the 1997 transplant site just before transplanting the eelgrass turf. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

NOAA scientists prepare to receive trays of eelgrass turf for transplanting at one of the sites. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

John Catena hands a tray of eelgrass turf over the side of the boat to the scientists in the water. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

A tray of eelgrass turf and plugs ready for transplant. Eelgrass, Zostera marina contributes substantially to the health of coastal ecosystems. Eelgrass meadows provide shelter and spawning habitat for fish and shellfish and the living blades or leaves provide food for waterfowl like brant and Canada Geese. And eelgrass is a critical element of the Bay's detrital food web. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center.

Tifway variety turf grass grown in Lenox, Georgia. Credit: Jeff Vanuga.

District Conservationist Mary Leidner sets up a laser level on a field of turf grass. Lenox, Georgia. Credit: Jeff Vanuga.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Use in Literature: Turf

TitleAuthorQuote

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

That was a smell of air and rain and turf and corduroy.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Turf

SubjectTopicQuote

Business

This new orientation came as a direct response to management consultants encroaching on traditional advertisement turf. Another trend which has increased the need for skilled staff (e.g., multimedia designers, internet art directors)is the increased fusion of marketing and advertisement techniques. (references)

Economic History

Indonesia

Inter-ministerial turf battles have also complicated the process. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Turf

"Turf" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 92.84% of the time. "Turf" is used about 516 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)92.84%47912,412
Noun (proper)3.87%2078,262
Lexical Verb (base form)2.51%1397,576
Lexical Verb (infinitive)0.77%4175,879
                    Total100.00%516N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Derived & Related Names: Turf

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "turf".
 
NameGenderLanguageMeaning
ArgobN/ABiblical

A turf

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

 

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Expression: Turf

Expressions using "turf": lily turf man of the turf on the turf the turf turf accountant turf ant turf drain turf grass turf hedge turf house turf moss turf out turf spade. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "turf": turf-built, turf-clad, turf-covered, turf-cutters, turf-cutting, turf-faced, turf-level, turf-man, turf-mazes, turf-roofed, turf-sided, turf-stack, turf-than, turf-thatched, turf-wars.

Ending with "turf": non-turf.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Turf

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

turf

300

used turf equipment

34

artificial turf

208

paris turf

32

club singapore turf

182

surf turf

27

astro turf

163

turf valley resort

27

synthetic turf

121

tuff turf

26

builder scotts turf

94

baseball turf shoes

25

turf shoes

76

turf care

24

field turf

66

football turf shoes

23

turf club

65

nike shoes turf

22

turf toe

62

scotts turf

21

turf tire

59

american turf monthly

21

turf grass

53

turf disease

20

aqua turf

51

equipment sale turf

18

hydro turf

50

sports turf

18

turf equipment

48

turf builder

18

turf management

47

aqua turf club

18

american turf monthly magazine

46

soccer turf shoes

16

turf valley

42

club mauritius turf

16

turf paradise

36

tire tractor turf

14

club sandakan turf

36

farm turf

14
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Turf

Language Translations for "turf"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Albanian

  

torfë (peat, peatery), terren (foothold, ground, land, links, location), plis bari. (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏كسا بإلأعشاب, ‏مضمار (course, racetrack), ‏قطاع (enclave, section, sector, strip), ‏حلبة سباق الخيل, ‏سباق الخيل (horse racing, race), ‏طرد (banish, banishment, bounce, bouncer, cashier, cast out, chuck, deport, deportation, disgrace, dislodge, dismiss, dismissal, dispossess, dispossession, disqualification, drive out, drum, eject, ejection, eliminate, elimination, evaporate, evict, eviction, expel, expulsion, fence, fight down, get off, hunt, in order of the boot, oust, ouster, pitch, poke, put out, removal, remove, repel, rout, sack, scat, send, send packing, sending away, shake, shrift, sling out, spurn, throw out, toss, toss out, turf out, turn away, turn off, turn out), ‏طبقة عشب, ‏أرض محجوزة. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

чим (sod, sward), тревна площ (grass, grassplot, lawn, sward), трева (grass, herb, herbage), торф (peat, sward), територия за действие, покривам с чипове. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

草皮 (sod, Turfs), 草地 (lawn, meadow, sod). (various references)

   

Czech

  

rašelina (peat), pokrýt drnem, drn (greensward, sod, sward). (various references)

   

Danish

  

graestoerv (stand of grass), graesmaatte (lawn carpet roll). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

zode (sod, sod of grass), graszode (sod, sod of grass). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

gazonero (sod, sod of grass). (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

مرغزار (Lawn, Meadow, Prairie), چمن (Arbor, Grass, Green, Lawn, Meadow, Prairie), کلوخ چمنی , طبقه فوقانی خاک , ذغال سنگ نارس (Peat), خاک ریشه دار, باچمن پوشاندن . (various references)

   

Finnish

  

nurmiturve. (various references)

   

French

  

gazon. (various references)

   

German

  

Rasen (belt, career, court, dash, field, grass, green, hurtle, lawn, lawns, pitch, power, race, rage, raging, rave, scorch, sod, spin along, sward, tear, to rave, to rush, turfs). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

έδαφοσ με χλόη, ιπποδρόμιο (circus, hippodrome, racetrack), χλόη (grass, lawn, sward, verdure), χλωροτάπης (stand of grass), χορτόπλινθος (stand of grass). (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

לשתול עשב, תחום "פעול" (field, purview), שכבת עשב, "שא" (lawn, sward). (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

gyep (green, lawn, sod, sward, turves). (various references)

   

Indonesian

  

gambut (peat moss). (various references)

   

Italian

  

zolla erbosa (sod, sward). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

芝草 (lawn, sod), (lawn, sod). (various references)

   

Japanese Katakana 

  

しばくさ (lawn, sod), しば (brushwood, firewood, lawn, sod). (various references)

   

Korean 

  

뗏장 (Turfs). (various references)

   

Manx

  

scrah (green sod, scraw, sod), scraa (divot, green sod, scale, scraw), foain (green, sward), foaid (block of peat, divot, sod), fank (sheep pen), cur scraa er. (various references)

   

Pig Latin

  

urftay

   

Portuguese

  

turfa (peat, stand of grass), relva (carpet, grass, green, herbage, lawn, sward, tuft). (various references)

   

Romanian

  

turf, hipodrom (course, hippodrome, racecourse), gazon (grass, greensward, sod, sward), curse de cai, brazdã de iarbã, brazdã (balk, baulk, bed, clod, furrow, list, rut, swath, trace, track, wake). (various references)

   

Russian 

  

торф (peat). (various references)

   

Scottish

  

tobhta, tota (a rower's bend), sgrath (outer skin or rind, sod), fòid (clod, peat, sod), f l (a spade, peat spade, scythe, spade). (various references)

   

Serbo-Croatian

  

trkalište (racecourse, racetrack), treset (peat, peat coal), teritorija maloletničke bande, konjske trke (race meeting), busen (clod, cluster, greensward, sod). (various references)

   

Spanish

  

tepe, césped (grass, green, greensward, lawn, sod, sward). (various references)

   

Swedish

  

torva. (various references)

   

Turkish

  

turba (peat), kesek (clod), hipodrom (hippodrome), çimen döşemek, çimen (bent, bent grass, divot, grass, greensward, lawn, meadow grass, sod, sward), çim saha, çim ekmek, çim (grass, lawn, sod, sward, swarded), çetenin bölgesi. (various references)

   

Ukrainian

  

торф (peat), вистилати дерном, дерен (divot, grass, greensward, sod, sward). (various references)

   

Welsh

  

tywarchen (sod). (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Turf

LanguagePeriodTranslations
Latin500 BCE-Modern

cæspes, glebae, glebas, glebis, gramen. (various references)

Middle Dutch1100-1500

sode. (various references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Turf

Derivations

Words beginning with "turf": turfed, turfier, turfiest, turfing, turfless, turflike, turfman, turfmen, turfs, turfski, turfskiing, turfskiings, turfskis, turfy. (additional references)


Misspellings

"Turf" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: durf, gurf, murf, struf, tarf, terf, terif, tirf, tirrf, toraf, torf, tru, Truf, trufe, truff, truft, trur, truv, truz, tuf, tufi, Tufl, tufo, Tuirc, tura, turb, turc, turd, ture, turfe, turi, turl, turo, turp, turq, turr, turrr, turs, turt, turu, Tzur, urf. (additional references)

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Turf"

# of Phoneme MatchesPronunciationWord(s) rhyming with "turf" (pronounced ter"f)
2-er" fserf, surf.

Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Turf

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

Words within the letters "f-r-t-u"

-1 letter: fur, rut.

-2 letters: ut.

 Words containing the letters "f-r-t-u"
 

+1 letter: fruit, turfs, turfy.

 

+2 letters: artful, fluter, fourth, fruits, fruity, frusta, future, refute, truffe, tufter, turfed.

 

+3 letters: antifur, brutify, facture, faitour, feature, fixture, floruit, flouter, fluster, fluters, flutier, flutter, foregut, fortune, fourths, fractur, fractus, fraktur, fraught, fretful, fruited, fruiter, frustum, functor, furcate, furmety, furmity, further, furtive, fustier, futharc, futhark, futhorc, futhork, futural, futures, hurtful, outfire, putrefy, refutal, refuted, refuter, refutes, restful, restuff, ruthful, stuffer, surfeit, tartufe, tearful, trayful, truffes, truffle, tufters, tuftier, turfier, turfing, turfman, turfmen, turfski, turnoff, updraft, upfront, wafture.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

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INDEX

1. Definition
2. Synonyms
3. Crosswords
4. Usage: Modern
5. Usage: Commercial
6. Images: Slideshow
7. Images: Photo Album
8. Quotations: Fiction
9. Quotations: Non-fiction
10. Usage Frequency
11. Names: Derived from
12. Expressions
13. Expressions: Internet
14. Translations: Modern
15. Translations: Ancient
16. Abbreviations
17. Acronyms
18. Derivations
19. Rhymes
20. Anagrams
21. Bibliography


  

Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.