Meanings
-
1
noun
a piece or layer of grass-covered surface soil held together by its roots
Workers laid fresh sod over the bare soil beside the new path.
-
2
noun
a person, especially one regarded with annoyance, contempt, or pity; informal British English
The poor sod had waited in the rain for a bus that never came.
-
3
verb
to cover an area of ground with pieces of grass-covered turf
The landscapers will sod the yard after they finish grading it.
Thesaurus
Etymology
The turf noun comes from Middle English sod or sodde, probably from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German words for turf; the landscaping verb developed from that noun. The informal British noun is historically a shortening of sodomite, from the biblical place-name Sodom, but its modern uses have broadened and usually carry no literal sexual sense.