gridiron

[ grid-ahy-ern ]

noun

1. a football field.
2. a utensil consisting of parallel metal bars on which to broil meat or other food.
3. any framework or network resembling a gridiron.
4. a structure above the stage of a theater, from which hung scenery and the like are manipulated.

verb (used with object)

1. to mark off into squares or design with a network of squares.

gridiron

/ ˈɡrɪdˌaɪən /

noun

1. a utensil of parallel metal bars, used to grill meat, fish, etc
2. any framework resembling this utensil
3. a framework above the stage in a theatre from which suspended scenery, lights, etc, are manipulated
4. 1. the field of play in American football
   2. an informal name for American football
   3. ( as modifier )

      a gridiron hero

Word History and Origins

Origin of gridiron¹

1250–1300; Middle English gridirne, gridir ( e ), gridere, variant of gridel griddle; variants in -irne, -ire, etc. are associated by folk etymology with ModE variant irne, ire iron

Word History and Origins

Origin of gridiron¹

C13 gredire, perhaps variant (through influence of ire iron ) of gredile griddle

Example Sentences

Saint Lawrence, burned over an iron grill, stands with a gridiron.

From FiveThirtyEight

Defensive chairs have a protruding bumper specifically designed to “hook” and hold an attacker, just as you might tackle or block in conventional rugby or on a gridiron.

From Outside Online

Even the fact that he is taking over a downtrodden program only gives Kelley another chance to upend traditional notions of how things normally proceed on the gridiron.

From Washington Post

Shortly after capping its best season in program history on the gridiron, Alabama is in the midst of its best season in program history on the hardwood.

From FiveThirtyEight

That may be how the Tide’s season ends, but for now, Oats and his players have dreams of a national championship, just like their gridiron brethren.

From FiveThirtyEight

This opponent is like no other Rodgers has to face on the gridiron.

From The Daily Beast

Back then, every single newspaper, website, and news show (even the fake news shows) was awash in gridiron scandal.

From The Daily Beast

The senator, a college gridiron star, has a coldly Machiavellian widow.

From The Daily Beast

Doing well at the Gridiron is a rite of passage that not everybody survives.

From The Daily Beast

How an economist views the game and the evidence from XLVII years on the gridiron.

From The Daily Beast

So saying he proceeded to place the red herrings on a gridiron, as if he were the recognised cook of the establishment.

From Project Gutenberg

The bourgeois of Nantes turned around sharply and saw the heaped-up combustibles under the gridiron beginning to take fire.

From Project Gutenberg

The corpse of Bezenecq the Rich was chained to the gridiron above the dying embers of the coal fire.

From Project Gutenberg

Approaching Isoline, he struck against the gridiron, where lay the corpse of the bourgeois of Nantes.

From Project Gutenberg

The unhappy Coquerico stripped of all his feathers, the soldier took him and laid him on the gridiron.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• course
• court
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• green
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• turf