(1927-) German writer. The grotesque humor and socialist feeling of his novels Die Blechtrommel/The Tin Drum 1959 and Der Butt/The Flounder 1977 are also characteristic of many of his poems.
Born in Danzig (now Gdansk), he studied at the art academies of Düsseldorf and Berlin, worked as a writer and sculptor (first in Paris and later in Berlin), and in 1958 won the coveted “Group 47” prize.

ETYM Old Eng. gras, gres, gers, AS, graes, gaers; akin to OFries. gres, gers, OS., Dutch, German, Icel., and Goth. gras, Dan. graes, Swed. gräs, and prob. to Eng. green, grow. Related to Graze.
(Irregular plural: grasses).
Narrow-leaved green herbage: grown as lawns; used as pasture for grazing animals; cut and dried as hay.
Plant of the large family Gramineae of monocotyledons, with about 9,000 species distributed worldwide except in the Arctic regions. The majority are perennial, with long, narrow leaves and jointed, hollow stems; hermaphroditic flowers are borne in spikelets; the fruits are grainlike. Included are bluegrass, wheat, rye, corn, sugarcane, and bamboo.

Slang British; a police informer

ETYM See Grass (n.).
1. To cover with grass; SYN. grass over.
2. To cover with grass, as of a piece of land.
3. To feed with grass.
4. To shoot down, of birds.
5. To spread out clothes on the grass to let it dry and bleach.