grasses

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of grass.

   Native grasses now cover the restored prairie from edge to edge.

   Ornamental grasses turn golden brown as the season ends.

   Note

   The plural goes with the countable uses of grass. A lawn stays singular: the grass needs cutting. Kinds of plant take the plural, as in native grasses and ornamental grasses, and so do grasslike plants outside the true grass family. The British slang noun for an informer pluralizes too (two grasses in the gang). The slang word for marijuana is uncountable, so it has no plural. The -es is added because the singular ends in s.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of grass.

   The crew grasses every slope along the new highway to stop erosion.

   Each fall the park service grasses the burned hillsides to hold the soil.

   Note

   It is spelled exactly like the plural noun, so the sentence has to decide. In "the crew grasses the slope" it is the verb; in "native grasses" it is the noun. Most of the verb's uses are transitive: someone grasses a verge with turf, knocks an opponent down onto the grass, or lands a catch. Only the slang sense of informing can stand without an object, usually followed by on: he grasses on his partners.

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