gridiron
noun
Did you know?
Are you ready for some football... lingo? Excellent, and if your big game preparations involve firing up a griddle at a tailgate party, even better—American football shares linguistic ties with that form of cookery. One of the oldest senses of gridiron referred not to a football field but to a metal grate used for broiling food over an open fire. In Middle English, such a grating was called a gredil, a root that gave modern English both gridiron and griddle. How did gridiron become associated with football? That happened in the late 1800s, when early football fields were marked in a grid, not by the familiar parallel yard lines we know today. From high up in the stands, the lines made the playing fields look like cooking gridirons. You might remember this the next time your favorite player is hotdogging in the end zone.
Examples of gridiron in a Sentence
Tom Layberger, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
Move over Eagles, another raptor is taking over the gridiron.
—Brie Stimson, FOXNews.com, 24 Aug. 2025
Known as a slugger on the diamond, the 6-foot, 190-pound Souders is also a big hitter on the gridiron with a nose for the football.
—Matt Schubert, Denver Post, 18 Aug. 2025
But New is thankful to have Clevenger playing pitch-and-catch with Doyle on the gridiron.
—Matt Le Cren, Chicago Tribune, 18 Aug. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gridiron
Cite this Entry
“Gridiron.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gridiron. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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gridiron
noun
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