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sod(2) (iou)



sod noun1. LME.
[Middle & mod. Low German or Middle Dutch sode (Dutch zode) = Old Frisian satha, sada, of unkn. origin.]
a. A usu. square or oblong piece or slice of earth together with the grass growing on it; (a) turf. LME.
b. spec. A piece of turf used for fuel; a peat. Scot. E19.
c. A usu. square piece of clay. dial. M19.
In pl. Two pieces of turf, or a piece of cloth stuffed with straw, forming a rough kind of saddle. Freq. in a pair of sods. Cf. SUNK noun 2. Scot. & north. Now rare. L16.
The ground on which one is standing. dial. L17.
The surface of the ground, esp. when covered with grass (chiefly poet.); N. Amer. grass-covered soil, the surface of a lawn. E18.
the sod: a cock-fighting pit; transf. cock-fighting. Formerly also, horse-racing. colloq. (now chiefly Hist.). M18.
Phrases: the old sod one's native district or country; spec. Ireland. under the sod dead and buried.
Comb.: sodbuster N. Amer. colloq. a farmer or farmworker, who ploughs the land, esp. virgin grassland; sod corn N. Amer. (whiskey made from) maize planted in ploughed-up grassland; sod house: made of sods; sod planting the sowing of seed in unploughed ground, herbicides being used to kill or control any existing vegetation; also called zero tillage; sod webworm, sod-worm N. Amer. the larva of any of several pyralid moths of the genus Crambus, which form silk tunnels at the base of grasses; sod widow: whose husband is dead and buried (cf. GRASS WIDOW).