1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab and Lond. Poor, I., 539. He sold grass,
and such things as cost money.
4. (Australian printers’).—A temporary hand on a newspaper; hence the
proverb, ‘a grass on news waits dead men’s shoes.’ Cf., Grass-hand = a
raw worker, or green hand.
a. 1889. Fitzgerald, Printers’ Proverbs, quoted in Slang, Jargon,
and Cant. Why are the grass, or casual news hands not put on a more
comfortable footing?
Verb (pugilistic).—To throw (or be thrown); to bring (or be brought) to
ground. Hence, to knock down; to defeat; to kill.
1818. Egan, Boxiana, ii., 375. He had much the worst of it, and was
ultimately grassed.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, p. 57. The shame that aught but death should
see him grassed.
1846. Dickens, Dombey, xliv., 385. The Chicken himself attributed
this punishment to his having had the misfortune to get into
Chancery early in the proceedings, when he was severely fibbed by
the Larkey One, and heavily grassed.
1881. Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov. The Doctor had killed twenty out of
twenty-five, while his opponent had grassed seventeen out of the
same number.
1883. W. Besant, All in a Garden Fair. Intro. It was a sad example
of pride before a fall; his foot caught in a tuft of grass, and he
was grassed.
1888. Sporting Life, 11 Dec. Just on the completion of the minute
grassed his man with a swinging right-hander.
1891. J. Newman, Scamping Tricks, p. 119. I saw I was grassed, so I
took his measurement.
1892. F. Anstey, Voces Populi. ‘The Riding-Class,’ p. 108. Didn’t
get grassed, did you?
To give grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To yield.
To go to grass, verb. phr. (colloquial).—1. To abscond; to disappear.
Also to hunt grass.