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
Tracie Canada / Made By History, TIME, 1 Jan. 2025
Commanding the entire space during the Texans-Ravens matchup in her hometown of Houston, Bey delivered a jaw-dropping performance that transformed the gridiron into a concert venue.
—Amber Corrine, VIBE.com, 26 Dec. 2024
Sure, there were games played Thursday and Friday, but there’s plenty more gridiron battles to be fought before the holiday weekend comes to a close.
—Chris Morris, Fortune, 1 Dec. 2024
Most of us have attended a reception with guests glued to their phones and the gridiron.
—Alissa Widman Neese, Axios, 4 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gridiron 
Articles Related to gridiron
Dictionary Entries Near gridiron
Cite this Entry
“Gridiron.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gridiron. Accessed 23 Jan. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gridiron
noun
Share