graze (1), grase

t. & i. [Etym. doubtful. According to Skeat coined from rase = to scrape slightly, with some confusion with grate, v.; according to others connected with graze (2). Cf. graze (2), Α. ΙΙ.] A. Trans.: To touch or rub slightly in pa ing; to brush the surface lightly. "It merely tore his coat, grazed his shoulder, and drew two or three ounces of blood."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng ., ch. xvi. IMG:content-0724.png:[blocks in formation] age. 1. To eat gra ; to feed on gra or growing herb"The greatest of my pride is to see my ewes graze , and my lambs suck."- Shakesp .: As You Like It , iii. 2. 2. To supply or furnish gra for grazing. "The ground continueth the wet, whereby it will never graze to purpose that year." -Bacon. *3. To feed in any way; to browse. "Grazing at large in meadows submarine." Cowper: To the Memory of the Halibut. *II. Fig .: Τo move along devouring, as spreading fire. "As every state lay next to the other that was oppre ed, so the fire perpetually grazed ."- Bacon . B. Transitive : 1. To supply with gra or pasture; to find pasture for. "They feede and graze theyr cattele wandering through the deserts and wylde forests."-Goldyng: Justine , bk. i. *2. To tend while grazing. "Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep." Shakesp.: Merchant of Venice, i. 3. *3. To feed on; to eat, as growing herbage; to browse. "He gave my kine to graze the flowery plain." Dryden: Virgil ; Ect. L. 11 grāze (1), s. [GRAZE (1), v.] 1. The act of grazing or touching lightly; a light or slight touch or rub in pa ing. 2. A slight mark or cut made by an object touching in pa ing. grāze (2), s. [GRAZE (2), v.] The act of grazing or feeding upon gra . grāz-er, s. [Eng. graze (2); -er.] 1. Ord . Lang .: An animal that grazes or feeds on grāy-fly, s . [Eng.gray, and fly.] Entom.: A species of Estrus, called also the gra . trumpet-fly (q. v.). "What time the grayfly winds her sultry horn." Milton: Lycidas, 28. gray-hound, s. [GREYHOUND.] gray-Ish, grey-ish, *gra-ish, a. [Eng. gray, grey; -ish.] Somewhat gray in color. "A globe-like head, a gold-like haire, A forehead smooth and hie, On either side did shine a graish eie." Warner: Albions England , bk. iv., ch. 20. gray-lăg, gray-lăgg, s . [Eng. gray , second element doubtful; cf. A. S. lagu water, the sea, a lake, or Ital. lago a lake.] Ornith.: Anser fer us , believed to be the origin of the domestic goose. grāyle, s. [GRAIL.]