- past tense form of seethe.
sod
1 Americannoun
-
a section cut or torn from the surface of grassland, containing the matted roots of grass.
-
the surface of the ground, especially when covered with grass; turf; sward.
verb (used with object)
verb
noun
-
a person considered to be obnoxious
-
a jocular word for a person
the poor sod hasn't been out for weeks
-
slang nothing
interjection
noun
-
a piece of grass-covered surface soil held together by the roots of the grass; turf
-
poetic the ground
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of sod1
First recorded in 1475–1525; late Middle English sod(de), from Middle Dutch or Middle Low German sode “turf”
Origin of sod3
First recorded in 1810–15; by shortening of sodomite ( def. )
Explanation
Sod is grass and the layer of soil that's just below it. When you step onto a grassy soccer field, your cleats will sink into the sod. You can also call sod "turf." A green, grassy lawn is covered with sod, and if you plant a yard with brand new sod, you sod it. Experts know that sod comes either from a Middle Dutch or Middle Low German root, but beyond that it's a bit of a mystery. Some guesses connect it to sog, from the idea of wet sod saturated with water—or soggy sod.
Vocabulary lists containing sod
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Charlotte's Web
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The guitarist didn’t skip a beat: “That suits me, I’m a miserable sod most of the time.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
For this enormous game, new grass was specially sourced from a nearby sod farm.
From Barron's ● Feb. 7, 2026
Mr Williams said: "I'm just a stubborn old sod and I'm not going to give in. I would appreciate it if anybody said to me 'you were right and we were wrong'."
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2025
SoFi’s 70-by-110-meter field, grown at a sod farm in Washington state, was laid down in strips earlier this month and was used for the first time Thursday.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2025
The houses were roofed with sod, the windows shuttered with ragged pieces of hide.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
They're measuring yardages from various positions on the freshly re-graded and sodded teeing area, which is almost as big as our entire golf course:
From Golf Digest ● Jul. 9, 2016
It was then sodded for a third time in four months before the start of the regular season in an effort to find the right grass and soil combination that would stay rooted.
From Washington Times ● Aug. 2, 2015
His hands have graded, sodded and seeded playing fields, and they’ve shown a group of scrappy wrestlers how to push their bodies beyond preconceived limitations.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 20, 2015
Two of the putting surfaces had to be entirely replaced by sod just a week ago - the 10th green had to be sodded twice - and the other greens were ragged.
From Seattle Times ● May 3, 2013
So we merely dress up and then trail down the stairs and out across the newly sodded front lawn, our shawls dragging behind us, uncertain what’s supposed to happen next.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
“Yeah, it seems trivial to have members of the National Guard, you know, sodding the National Mall. But you also have to look at this in context,” she said.
From Slate ● Aug. 29, 2025
Michael described himself as a "very awkward, slightly porky, very strange-looking bloke" who walked into his first day of school with a mop of curly hair and wearing "sodding great big window-frame glasses."
From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2023
It’s considered a nuisance or a weed when it pops up in luscious suburban lawns, long the bane of gardeners and homeowners sodding, sprinkling and nurturing the greenest of grasses.
From New York Times ● Jul. 20, 2018
“We worked on several projects that were funded by Publix, including an herb/vegetable garden for the culinary program, beautification of common grounds and sodding, and landscaping a new yoga/meditation area for the students,” she said.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2018
“This path must be laid out like a sodding maze,” said Alice.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
