Asked by: Lakeisha Uffenorde
home and garden landscaping

Where did the term to grass someone up come from?

39
One who gives information. A 'squealer' or 'squeaker'. The origin derives from rhyming slang: grasshopper - copper; a 'grass' or 'grasser' tells the 'copper' or policeman." That comes only a few years after the term grass was coined and there seems little reason to doubt it as the derivation.


Then, what does it mean when you call someone a grass?

If you watch British police procedurals, you'll likely come across the term to grass someone, meaning “to inform on someone” or “to rat someone out.” It's a bit of British rhyming slang that originated with the 19th-century phrase to shop on someone.

Also, what does your bird is a grass mean? The word opens all sorts of other British and underworld slang windows. To grass is to sing like a canary a bird that is yellow - the color of cowards. To grass is considered an act of cowardice amid underworld circles.

Consequently, what does grassed me up mean?

past participle. grassed up. DEFINITIONS1. 1. to tell someone in authority, especially the police, about something bad that someone else has done.

What does it mean to inform on someone?

inform on (someone) To share or reveal compromising information about someone, usually to the authorities. If you inform on him to the cops, he'll definitely send some of his goons out after you.

Related Question Answers

Mailin Molyavin

Professional

How do you speak British slang?

The English Learner's Guide to UK Slang: 18 Must-know British Words for Casual Use
  1. Chuffed. When someone is chuffed, they are very pleased or happy about something.
  2. Knackered. Knackered (or sometimes “ready for the knackers yard”) means that someone is extremely tired.
  3. Bants.
  4. Cheeky.
  5. Fag.
  6. Cuppa.
  7. Bum.
  8. Mate.

Miranda Carralon

Professional

Who invented the word snitch?

In the late 19th century, canary was used to refer to a female vocalist, but it soon became a common underworld term for those who would “sing” to the police. When it comes to moles, spy novelist John le Carré is often credited with inventing the term, but mole was used to refer to undercover agents as early as 1922.

Heping Caesar

Professional

What is grass made of?

It is a completely naturally occurring substance, therefore 100% organic. It is made up of basic elements, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. As it goes through the process of photosynthesis, it also contains chlorophyll and cellulose. The two main components of grass are water and lignin.

Sanora Reichert

Explainer

What does grass feed on?

Grass-fed animals do eat a wide variety of grasses, including bluegrass, ryegrass, bermudagrass, fescue, Timothy grass, foxtail, sorghum, bromegrass, orchardgrass, quackgrass, and canarygrass. But grass-fed animals may also eat a wide variety of other plants.

Saladino Henkl

Explainer

What is the real definition of snitch?

informal + disapproving : a person who tells someone in authority (such as the police or a teacher) about something wrong that someone has done : someone who snitches. See the full definition for snitch in the English Language Learners Dictionary.

Fattah Kaczorowsk

Explainer

Where did the term coppers come from?

The term copper was the original, unshortened word, originally used in Britain to mean "someone who captures". In British English, the term cop is recorded (Shorter Oxford Dictionary) in the sense of 'to capture' from 1704, derived from the Latin capere via the Old French caper.

Begoña Volgmann

Pundit

What are the grass?

Grass is a monocotyledon plant, herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. A common kind of grass is used to cover the ground in a lawn and other places. The grasses include the "true grasses", of the family Poaceae (also called Gramineae), as well as the sedges (Cyperaceae) and the rushes (Juncaceae).

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EveryThingWhat Staff Editor

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28th August, 2021

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