"grass-eater" meaning in English

See grass-eater in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: grass-eaters [plural]
Etymology: From grass + eater; applied to bribe-accepting polics by the Knapp Commission in the 1970s. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|grass|eater}} grass + eater Head templates: {{en-noun}} grass-eater (plural grass-eaters)
  1. An organism notable for eating grass
    Sense id: en-grass-eater-en-noun-6RNAdHnu
  2. An organism notable for eating grass
    A fish of species Distichodus rostratus or Distichodus engycephalus, of Africa
    Sense id: en-grass-eater-en-noun-3rAmMGfr
  3. (figurative) A police officer who accepts offered bribes but does not actively seek them out. Tags: figuratively Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-grass-eater-en-noun-O0WSMd~7 Disambiguation of People: 0 0 52 48
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Noun

Forms: grass-eaters [plural]
Etymology: Calque of Japanese 草食系男子 (sōshokukei danshi, “herbivorous/grass-eating male”). Etymology templates: {{calque|en|ja|草食系男子||herbivorous/grass-eating male|tr=sōshokukei danshi}} Calque of Japanese 草食系男子 (sōshokukei danshi, “herbivorous/grass-eating male”) Head templates: {{en-noun}} grass-eater (plural grass-eaters)
  1. (derogatory, slang) A celibate man, especially a Japanese man, who eschews dating and sexual relationships. Tags: derogatory, slang Categories (topical): Law enforcement, People Synonyms: herbivore man
    Sense id: en-grass-eater-en-noun-hxmQvQu2 Disambiguation of Law enforcement: 8 8 28 56 Disambiguation of People: 0 0 52 48 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 11 11 32 46 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 8 8 31 53 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 5 5 29 61
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "grass",
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      "expansion": "grass + eater",
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  "etymology_text": "From grass + eater; applied to bribe-accepting polics by the Knapp Commission in the 1970s.",
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      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "An organism notable for eating grass",
        "A fish of species Distichodus rostratus or Distichodus engycephalus, of Africa"
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          "_dis": "0 0 52 48",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Alternative form: grasseater"
        },
        {
          "text": "Coordinate term: meat-eater"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2002, Edwin J. Delattre, Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing, American Enterprise Institute, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 79:",
          "text": "But why do police become grass-eaters at all, if they lack the greed and contempt fo decency necessary to become meat-eaters?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Lee P. Brown, Policing in the 21st Century: Community Policing, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 50:",
          "text": "It was the grass-eaters, the commission found, that made corruption respectable within the organization, encouraging a code of silence among officers.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 September 13, Regoli, John D. Hewitt, Anna E. Kosloski, Exploring Criminal Justice, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 113:",
          "text": "Grass-eaters constituted the majority of police officers who were corrupt; meat-eaters were rare. But meat-eaters are more dangerous. They aggressively misuse their police powers for personal gain.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A police officer who accepts offered bribes but does not actively seek them out."
      ],
      "id": "en-grass-eater-en-noun-O0WSMd~7",
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          "police officer",
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          "bribe",
          "bribe"
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) A police officer who accepts offered bribes but does not actively seek them out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Knapp Commission"
  ],
  "word": "grass-eater"
}

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        "4": "",
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      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of Japanese 草食系男子 (sōshokukei danshi, “herbivorous/grass-eating male”).",
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          "_dis": "11 11 32 46",
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        {
          "ref": "2011 March 17, Paul Mceuen, Spiral, Hachette UK, →ISBN:",
          "text": "That is what the modern men of Japan have done, these grass-eaters.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 July 1, Genaro Castro-Vazquez, Intimacy and Reproduction in Contemporary Japan (Routledge Research on Gender in Asia Series), Routledge, →ISBN, page 62:",
          "text": "The grass-eaters fail to maintain a 'manly' appearance, snared instead by the world of cosmetics and fashion which makes them look soft, 'fragile and girlie' ([…]).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 November 14, Kittredge Cherry, Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women, Stone Bridge Press, →ISBN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "She dubbed them “herbivore men” (shoshoku danshi) in a 2006 article, and the phrase caught on as the nation took note of the gentle grass-eaters. Their lesser-known counterparts are the “carnivore women” (nikushoku joshi) who take the initiative in life and love.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
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      "id": "en-grass-eater-en-noun-hxmQvQu2",
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        "(derogatory, slang) A celibate man, especially a Japanese man, who eschews dating and sexual relationships."
      ],
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  "word": "grass-eater"
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        "An organism notable for eating grass"
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        "An organism notable for eating grass",
        "A fish of species Distichodus rostratus or Distichodus engycephalus, of Africa"
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        },
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          "ref": "2002, Edwin J. Delattre, Character and Cops: Ethics in Policing, American Enterprise Institute, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 79:",
          "text": "But why do police become grass-eaters at all, if they lack the greed and contempt fo decency necessary to become meat-eaters?",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2012, Lee P. Brown, Policing in the 21st Century: Community Policing, AuthorHouse, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 50:",
          "text": "It was the grass-eaters, the commission found, that made corruption respectable within the organization, encouraging a code of silence among officers.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 September 13, Regoli, John D. Hewitt, Anna E. Kosloski, Exploring Criminal Justice, Jones & Bartlett Publishers, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 113:",
          "text": "Grass-eaters constituted the majority of police officers who were corrupt; meat-eaters were rare. But meat-eaters are more dangerous. They aggressively misuse their police powers for personal gain.",
          "type": "quote"
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        "A police officer who accepts offered bribes but does not actively seek them out."
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        "(figurative) A police officer who accepts offered bribes but does not actively seek them out."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Knapp Commission"
  ],
  "word": "grass-eater"
}

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          "text": "That is what the modern men of Japan have done, these grass-eaters.",
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        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 July 1, Genaro Castro-Vazquez, Intimacy and Reproduction in Contemporary Japan (Routledge Research on Gender in Asia Series), Routledge, →ISBN, page 62:",
          "text": "The grass-eaters fail to maintain a 'manly' appearance, snared instead by the world of cosmetics and fashion which makes them look soft, 'fragile and girlie' ([…]).",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2016 November 14, Kittredge Cherry, Womansword: What Japanese Words Say About Women, Stone Bridge Press, →ISBN, →OCLC:",
          "text": "She dubbed them “herbivore men” (shoshoku danshi) in a 2006 article, and the phrase caught on as the nation took note of the gentle grass-eaters. Their lesser-known counterparts are the “carnivore women” (nikushoku joshi) who take the initiative in life and love.",
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        "(derogatory, slang) A celibate man, especially a Japanese man, who eschews dating and sexual relationships."
      ],
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        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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  "word": "grass-eater"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-15 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (8a39820 and 4401a4c). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.