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
Amy Drew Thompson, The Orlando Sentinel, 2 Apr. 2025
And there have been some other connections between the gridiron and Westminster’s green carpet.
—Jennifer Peltz, Chicago Tribune, 9 Feb. 2025
The United Football League returned to the gridiron for the 2025 season and at least one record fell twice during the first two days of the new year.
—Ryan Gaydos, FOXNews.com, 30 Mar. 2025
From the gridiron to pitching investors Waggoner and Gay met as teammates on Dartmouth College’s football team in 2010.
—Natalie Wu, CNBC, 14 Feb. 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 21 May. 2025.
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gridiron
noun
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