gridiron
/ˈɡɹɪdaɪən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.66 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An instrument of torture on which people were secured before being burned by fire.
noun
An openwork frame on which vessels are placed for examination, cleaning, and repairs.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
American and Canadian football, particularly when used to distinguish from other codes of football.
Australian usage; New Zealand usage; Uncountable
verb
To mark or cover with lines; to crisscross.
Example Sentences
- "I know, there have been found seely boores, who have rather endure to have their feet broiled upon a Greedyron, their fingers ends crusht and wrung with the lock of a Pistoll, their eyes all bloody to be thrust out of their heads with wringing and wresting of a cord about their foreheads, before they would so much as be ransomed."
- "Just north of Farringdon station, and to the east of Ray Street, there is a wide cutting bounded by another of those brick walls nicely calculated to be just too high for you to see over. So prop your bike against it, and stand on the down-pointing pedal crank. You are looking at the Ray Street Gridiron, a spectacular bridge in a cutting that carries the Metropolitan, the supposed Underground, over the Widened Lines (now Thameslink)."
- "They were quite close to him now, and crouching low, like tacklers on a gridiron. One of them raised his hand and lowered it, as though counting off seconds—one—two—three!"
- "1995 October 3, Peter O′Shea, Sports: Out on the field, The Advocate, page 54, He represented Australia in this year′s rugby tour of England and is as well-known in Australia as any top gridiron player is in the United States."
- "So Jackie′s name became known far and wide as an exceptional gridiron player."
- "2009, Deborah Healey, Sport and the Law, reference note, UNSW Press, page 271, 119 Yasser (1985) cites the famous US example of gridiron player Dick Butkus of the Chicago Bears."
Etymology
From Middle English gridirne, gredirne, gredyron, gredeyron, grydern, grydyryne, girdirin, girderen, variants of Middle English gredire, gredyre, itself an alteration of Middle English gridel (“griddle”). The ending was assimilated to iron, as if from grid + iron, whence grid was later derived.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: gridirne, gridel
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈɡɹɪdaɪən/