graze
Use Graze in a sentence
verb (used without object)
1.
to feed on growing grass and pasturage, as do cattle, sheep, etc.
2.
Informal. to eat small portions of food, as appetizers or the like, in place of a full-sized meal or to snack during the course of the day in place of regular meals.
verb (used with object)
3.
to feed on (growing grass).
4.
to put cattle, sheep, etc., to feed on (grass, pastureland, etc.).
5.
to tend (cattle, sheep, etc.) while they are at pasture.
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Graze
is one of our favorite verbs.
So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:
| to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax. |
| to spend time idly; loaf. |
Related forms
graze·a·ble, adjective
graz·er, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
verb (used with object)
1.
to touch or rub lightly in passing.
2.
to scrape the skin from; abrade: The bullet just grazed his shoulder.
verb (used without object)
3.
to touch or rub something lightly, or so as to produce slight abrasion, in passing: to graze against a rough wall.
noun
4.
a grazing; a touching or rubbing lightly in passing.
5.
a slight scratch, scrape, or wound made in passing; abrasion.
Origin:
1595–1605; perhaps special use of graze1; for the semantic shift compare French effleurer, derivative of fleur flower, in the same meaning
1595–1605; perhaps special use of graze1; for the semantic shift compare French effleurer, derivative of fleur flower, in the same meaning
Related forms
graz·er, noun
graz·ing·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To graze
Collins
World English Dictionary
graze1 (ɡreɪz) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —vb | |
| 1. | to allow (animals) to consume the vegetation on (an area of land), or (of animals, esp cows and sheep) to feed thus |
| 2. | (tr) to tend (livestock) while at pasture |
| 3. | informal to eat snacks throughout the day rather than formal meals |
| 4. | informal (South African) to eat |
| 5. | informal (intr) to switch between television channels while viewing without watching any channel for long |
| 6. | (US) to pilfer and eat sweets, vegetables, etc, from supermarket shelves while shopping |
| —n | |
| 7. | informal (South African) a snack; something to eat |
| [Old English grasian, from græs | |
| graze2 (ɡreɪz) | |
| —vb (when intr, | |
| 1. | to brush or scrape (against) gently, esp in passing |
| 2. | (tr) to break the skin of (a part of the body) by scraping |
| —n | |
| 3. | the act of grazing |
| 4. | a scrape or abrasion made by grazing |
| [C17: probably special use of | |
| 'grazer2 | |
| —n | |
| 'grazingly2 | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
graze
"feed," O.E. grasian "to feed on grass," from græs "grass" (see grass).
graze
"touch," 1604, perhaps a transferred sense from graze (1) via a notion of cropping grass right down to the ground (cf. Ger. grasen "to feed on grass," used in military sense in ref. to cannonballs that rebound off the ground).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary
graze definitionand browse
|
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
Ranchers who graze their cattle on public land should accept some losses in return.
At night, deer graze peacefully among the silent hulks.
In higher elevations, bighorn sheep clatter over the rocks, while down below elk graze alongside the road.
They sneak into the park late at night to let their cattle graze.
Nearby Words
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