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
FOXNews.com, 19 Nov. 2025
The Charlotte 49ers play one, sometimes even two, contests against perennial powerhouses each year on the gridiron.
—Hunter Bailey, Charlotte Observer, 19 Nov. 2025
The youngest of six brothers, all of whom would play major college football (and several in the NFL), Browner carved out his own identity on the gridiron.
—Jon Paul Hoornstra, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025
Tonight, the spotlight shifts to the gridiron as Louisville football faces Boston College for homecoming weekend, while the Wildcats gear up for a showdown against Tennessee.
—Stephanie Stremplewski, Louisville Courier Journal, 25 Oct. 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 29 Nov. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gridiron
noun
Share