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sod

1 American  
[sod] / sɒd /

noun

  1. a section cut or torn from the surface of grassland, containing the matted roots of grass.

  2. the surface of the ground, especially when covered with grass; turf; sward.

verb (used with object)

sodded, sodding

  1. to cover with sods or sod.

sod 2 American  
[sod] / sɒd /

verb

Archaic.

  1. simple past tense of seethe.

sod 3 American  
[sod] / sɒd /

noun

Chiefly British Slang: Vulgar.

  1. a chap; fellow; guy.

    You almost feel sorry for the poor sod.

  2. an inconsequential, annoying, or unpleasant person.

  3. Older Use. a gay man.

verb (used with object)

Chiefly British Slang: Vulgar.
sodded, sodding

  1. to damn.

    Sod the bloody bastard!

verb phrase

  1. sod off to leave (usually as an imperative).

    Why don't you just sod off!
sod 1 British  
/ sɒd /

noun

  1. a person considered to be obnoxious

  2. a jocular word for a person

    the poor sod hasn't been out for weeks

  3. slang nothing

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

interjection

  1. a strong exclamation of annoyance

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
sod 2 British  
/ sɒd /

noun

  1. a piece of grass-covered surface soil held together by the roots of the grass; turf

  2. poetic the ground

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. (tr) to cover with sods

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • sodding adjective
  • sodless adjective

Etymology

Origin of sod1

First recorded in 1475–1525; late Middle English sod(de), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German sode “turf”

Origin of sod3

First recorded in 1810–15; by shortening of sodomite ( def. )

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In “Grass Breathing,” Mendieta, hidden beneath squares of sod, uses her own respiration to animate the earth above.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 15, 2026

For this enormous game, new grass was specially sourced from a nearby sod farm.

From Barron's • Feb. 7, 2026

Further down the street, another tree had been uprooted so forcefully that it also pulled up a big corner of sod from a lawn.

From Slate • Oct. 21, 2024

"But the poor sod spent all his time in the medical tent."

From BBC • Jan. 31, 2024

The closer you get to the end, the more sod gets rolled out.

From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.