gridiron

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English gridirne, gridir(e), gridere, variant of gridel griddle; variants in -irne, -ire, etc. are associated by folk etymology with ModE variant irne, ire iron

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
Cite This Source

Link To gridiron

Collins

World English Dictionary

gridiron (ˈɡrɪdˌaɪən)

—n
1.	a utensil of parallel metal bars, used to grill meat, fish, etc
2.	any framework resembling this utensil
3.	a framework above the stage in a theatre from which suspended scenery, lights, etc, are manipulated
4.	a. the field of play in American football
	b. an informal name for American football
	c. (as modifier): a gridiron hero

[C13 gredire, perhaps variant (through influence of ireiron) of gredilegriddle]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

gridiron

early 14c., griderne, alteration (by association with iron) of gridire (late 13c.), a variant of gridil (see griddle). Confusion of "l" and "r" was common in Norman dialect.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source

Example sentences

Also, the soccer pitch is vaster than the gridiron or the diamond, and the

choreography of the game demands the widest of angles.

Meanwhile he took the mutton off the gridiron, and gravely handed it round.

Along a gridiron pattern of streets, rows of trees were planted to mark streets

and property lines.

The quarters were twelve minutes long and the referees spoke in accents

unfamiliar to the gridiron.