grass [OE] The Old English word grass is descended from the same root word as both *green and grow [OE]. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence [L19th] developed in the USA but is a sentiment echoed in the works of the Roman poet Ovid: ‘The harvest is always more fruitful in another man’s fields.’ A woman whose husband is often away for long periods can be referred to as a grass widow. In the early 16th century, though, this was a term for an unmarried woman with a child, probably from the idea of the couple having lain on the grass together instead of in bed. The sense of a woman whose husband is away much of the time is early 19th century. People have been smoking grass, or cannabis, since the 1930s, originally in the USA. The word has meant ‘an informer’ or ‘to inform’ since the 1920s. In this sense it is probably short for grasshopper, rhyming slang for shopper, a person who ‘shops’ someone. Graze [ME] is from Old English grasian ‘eat grass’.