turf

Plural: turfs, turves

Noun

A surface layer of earth with dense grass and roots.
surface layer of ground containing a mat of grass and grass roots
the territory claimed by a juvenile gang as its own
range of jurisdiction or influence
- "a bureaucracy...chiefly concerned with turf...and protecting the retirement system"
A layer of earth covered with grass; sod.
A piece of such a layer cut from the soil. May be used as sod to make a lawn, dried for peat, stacked to form earthen structures, etc.
A block of peat used as fuel.
A thick, carpet-like bed of algae.
A surface of synthetic fibers made to look like grass; artificial turf.
A territory claimed by a gang as their own.
A person's domain or sphere of influence.
A racetrack, hippodrome.
The sport of racing horses.

Verb

Verb Forms: turfed, turfing, turfs

To cover an area with a layer of grass and its roots.
cover (the ground) with a surface layer of grass or grass roots
To cover with turf; to create a lawn by laying turfs.
To throw a frisbee well short of its intended target, usually causing it to hit the ground within 10 yards of its release.
To fire from a job or dismiss from a task.
To cancel a project or product.
To expel, eject, or throw out; to turf out.
To transfer or attempt to transfer (a patient or case); to eschew or avoid responsibility for.

Examples

Eight managers were turfed after the merger of the two companies.
He defended his TURF on the Scrabble board, blocking my attempts to extend words.
I had to TURF out a low-scoring word to set up a better play next turn.
In climates where grass struggles to grow, turf is usually used instead on sports fields.
The company turfed the concept car because the prototype performed poorly.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English turf, torf, from Old English turf (“turf, sod, soil, piece of grass covered earth, greensward”), from Proto-West Germanic *turb, from Proto-Germanic *turbz (“turf, lawn”), from Proto-Indo-European *derbʰ- (“tuft, grass”).
Cognate with Dutch turf (“turf”), Middle Low German torf (“peat, turf”) (whence German Torf and German Low German Torf), Swedish torv (“turf”), Norwegian torv (“turf”), Icelandic torf (“turf”), Russian трава (trava, “grass”), Sanskrit दर्भ (darbhá, “a kind of grass”), दूर्वा (dū́rvā, “bent grass”).

Synonyms

greensward, sod, sward

Scrabble Score: 7

turf: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Word
turf: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
turf: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 8

turf: valid Words With Friends Word