English

grass up

Grass up comes from English grass ‘informer’.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Earliest quotation: 1999, Angela Devlin, Bob Turney: “My sister grassed me up to the caretaker! She…”

A compound of grass ‘informer’ + up

Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- ‘to grow’

Proto-Germanic *grasą

Proto-West Germanic *gras

Old English græs

Middle English gras ‘a grass’

English grass

Proto-Germanic *upp ‘up’

Proto-West Germanic *upp

Old English upp

Middle English up ‘to a vertical axis’

English up

Every English word from English grass

verb To betray by informing on.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.