Astroturf

American  

[as-truh-turf] / ˈæs trəˌtɜrf /

Trademark.

1. a brand of carpetlike covering made of vinyl and nylon to resemble turf, used for athletic fields, patios, etc.

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Astroturf British  

/ ˈæstrəʊˌtɜːf /

noun

1. a type of grasslike artificial surface used for playing fields and lawns

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Usage

What does Astroturf mean? Astroturf is a trademarked brand name for a type of artificial surface used for sports fields that’s supposed to look and feel like grass. When used this way, it’s often capitalized. The brand itself styles it as AstroTurf.This sense of the word has come to be frequently used as a generic term for any artificial turf (in the same way that other brand names have been genericized, such as xerox). When used this way, it’s often seen in lowercase (astroturf).Astroturf is also a slang term meaning to fake the appearance of popular support for something, such as a cause or product. The practice of doing so is called astroturfing and a person who does this can be called an astroturfer.Example: One clue that people are trying to astroturf support for something is that a lot of posts about the topic come from new accounts with usernames that look like they were randomly generated.

Etymology

Origin of Astroturf

C20: from Astro(dome) , the baseball stadium in Texas where it was first used + _turf