• Graze

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -eɪz

    Origin

    From Old English grasian ("to feed on grass"), from græs ("grass").

    Full definition of graze

    Noun

    graze

    (plural grazes)
    1. The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing.
    2. A light abrasion; a slight scratch.

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To feed or supply (cattle, sheep, etc.) with grass; to furnish pasture for.
      • Jonathan Swifta field or two to graze his cows
      • 1999: Although it is perfectly good meadowland, none of the villagers has ever grazed animals on the meadow on the other side of the wall. — Stardust, Neil Gaiman, page 4 (2001 Perennial Edition).
    2. (ambitransitive) To feed on; to eat (growing herbage); to eat grass from (a pasture); to browse.Cattle graze in the meadows.
      • Alexander PopeThe lambs with wolves shall graze the verdant mead.
      • 1993, John Montroll, Origami Inside-Out (page 41)The bird goose is more often found on land than other waterfowl because of its love for seeds and grains. The long neck is well adapted for grazing.
    3. (transitive) To tend (cattle, etc.) while grazing.
      • Shakespearewhen Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep
    4. (transitive) To rub or touch lightly the surface of (a thing) in passing.the bullet grazed the wall
      • 1851, Herman Melville, ,But in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship’s direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through.
    5. (transitive) To cause a slight wound to; to scratch.to graze one's knee
    6. (intransitive) To yield grass for grazing.
      • Francis BaconThe sewers must be kept so as the water may not stay too long in the spring; for then the ground continueth the wet, whereby it will never graze to purpose that year.

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