Dictionary

grasseater en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From grass + eater. Originally in reference to the Irish potato famine, implying that grass was all the Irish had left in their diet.

Meanings

1. (ethnic, offensive, slang, slur) A white person, especially an Irishman.
   • When the "green mouths," as the impoverished Irish grasseaters were dubbed, entered the United States, they brought cholera, consumption, and typhus with them. 2002, Jan Pottker, Janet and Jackie: The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter, page 12:
2. (alt-of, alternative, slang) Alternative spelling of grass-eater (type of police officer)
   alt of grass-eater
3. A herbivore or similar grazing animal.
   • And most of those grasseaters like horses, ox, camels, and llamas had shown early appearance on earth and since its early Cainozoic. 2010, Anwar A Abdullah, East West - Sword and Word, page 289:
4. (derogatory) A vegetarian or vegan.
   • Founded in 1898, when vegetarians were regarded as “grasseaters,” this restaurant has more than proved its staying power. 2009, Robert I. C. Fisher, Fodor's Switzerland, page 51:

Forms