gridiron

Meanings

1. An instrument of torture on which people were secured before being burned by fire.
2. An iron rack or grate used for broiling meat and fish over coals.

1. Any object resembling the rack or grate.
2. An openwork frame on which vessels are placed for examination, cleaning, and repairs.
3. A raised framework from which lighting is suspended.
4. The field on which American football is played.
5. American and Canadian football, particularly when used to distinguish from other codes of football.

1. To mark or cover with lines; to crisscross.
2. To purchase land so that the remaining adjacent sections are smaller than the minimum area purchasable as freehold, thus excluding potential freeholders.

Etymology

From Middle English gridirne, gredirne, gredyron, gredeyron, grydern, grydyryne, girdirin, girderen, variants of Middle English gredire, gredyre, itself an alteration of Middle English gridel (“griddle”). The ending was assimilated to iron, as if from grid + iron, whence grid was later derived.