Library / English Dictionary

GRAZE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of grazing

Synonyms:

graze; grazing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("graze" is a kind of...):

eating; feeding (the act of consuming food)

Derivation:

graze (eat lightly, try different dishes)

graze (scrape gently)

graze (feed as in a meadow or pasture)

graze (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)

graze (break the skin (of a body part) by scraping)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A superficial abrasion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Hypernyms ("graze" is a kind of...):

abrasion; excoriation; scrape; scratch (an abraded area where the skin is torn or worn off)

Derivation:

graze (scrape gently)

graze (break the skin (of a body part) by scraping)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Eat lightly, try different dishes

Example:

There was so much food at the party that we quickly got sated just by browsing

Synonyms:

browse; graze

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Hypernyms (to "graze" is one way to...):

nosh; snack (eat a snack; eat lightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue graze

Derivation:

graze (the act of grazing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Scrape gently

Example:

graze the skin

Synonyms:

crease; graze; rake

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "graze" is one way to...):

brush (touch lightly and briefly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "graze"):

shave (touch the surface of lightly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

grazing (the act of brushing against while passing)

graze (a superficial abrasion)

graze (the act of grazing)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Feed as in a meadow or pasture

Example:

the herd was grazing

Synonyms:

browse; crop; graze; pasture; range

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "graze" is one way to...):

eat; feed (take in food; used of animals only)

Verb group:

range (let eat)

crop; graze; pasture (let feed in a field or pasture or meadow)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Sentence example:

The animals graze

Derivation:

graze; grazing (the act of grazing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Let feed in a field or pasture or meadow

Synonyms:

crop; graze; pasture

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "graze" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Verb group:

browse; crop; graze; pasture; range (feed as in a meadow or pasture)

Domain category:

animal; animate being; beast; brute; creature; fauna (a living organism characterized by voluntary movement)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "graze"):

grass (feed with grass)

drift (drive slowly and far afield for grazing)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They graze the animals

Derivation:

graze (the act of grazing)

grazier (a rancher who grazes cattle or sheep for market)

grazing (the act of grazing)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Break the skin (of a body part) by scraping

Example:

She was grazed by the stray bullet

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "graze" is one way to...):

injure; wound (cause injuries or bodily harm to)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

Did he graze his foot?

Derivation:

graze (the act of grazing)

graze (a superficial abrasion)

grazing (the act of brushing against while passing)

Credits

 Context examples: 

The ring-grazing orbits will continue until April 22, when the last close flyby of Saturn's moon Titan will once again reshape Cassini's flight path.

(Over Saturn's Turbulent North, NASA)

If it had lasted any longer, I think I must have gone down on my knees on the gravel, with the probability before me of grazing them, and of being presently ejected from the premises besides.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Astronomers are not sure whether they merely grazed each other or collided head-on, but either way it triggered a powerful eruption that launched other nearby protostars and hundreds of colossal streamers of gas and dust out into interstellar space at over 150 kilometres per second.

(ALMA Captures Dramatic Stellar Fireworks, ESO)

The little hare would eat a cabbage-leaf out of their hands, the roe grazed by their side, the stag leapt merrily by them, and the birds sat still upon the boughs, and sang whatever they knew.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Astronomers are not sure whether they merely grazed each other or collided head-on, but either way it triggered a powerful eruption that launched other nearby protostars and hundreds of colossal streamers of gas and dust out into interstellar space at over 150 kilometers per second.

(Dramatic Stellar Fireworks of Star Birth, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But you! Look there, rat, on yonder field where the cows graze, and on that other beyond, and on the orchard hard by the church.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Cassini's imaging cameras acquired these latest views on Dec. 2 and 3, about two days before the first ring-grazing approach to the planet.

(Over Saturn's Turbulent North, NASA)

Since the border was established in 1982, wood-gathering and grazing have ceased on the Israeli side.

(Sleeping sands of the Kalahari awaken after more than 10,000 years, NSF)

Once in a grove we observed several of these great creatures grazing, and Lord John, with his glass, was able to report that they also were spotted with asphalt, though in a different place to the one which we had examined in the morning.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I told him, we had great numbers; that in summer they grazed in the fields, and in winter were kept in houses with hay and oats, where Yahoo servants were employed to rub their skins smooth, comb their manes, pick their feet, serve them with food, and make their beds.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)