1650s, from Latin gramineus "of grass, grassy," from gramen (genitive graminis) "grass, fodder," from PIE *gras-men-, suffixed form of root *gras- "to devour" (see gastric). The Latin adjective also is the source of the botanical order of Gramineae.
1640s, from Latin herbaceus "grassy," from herba "grass, herbage" (see herb).
1520s, originally "a second crop of grass grown on the same land after the first had been harvested," from after + -math, which is from Old English mæð "a mowing, cutting of grass" (from PIE root *me- (4) "to cut down grass or grain").
Other words for it were aftercrop (1560s), aftergrass (1680s), lattermath, fog (n.2). The figurative sense is by 1650s. Compare French regain "aftermath," from re- + Old French gain, gaain "grass which grows in mown meadows," from Frankish or some other Germanic source similar to Old High German weida "grass, pasture."
When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.
[Longfellow, from "Aftermath"]
proper name of a coffee substitute, 1895, from a Latinized form of the name of American manufactured foods pioneer Charles William Post (1854-1914), founder of the breakfast cereal company.
1747, short for timothy grass (1736), American English name for "cat-tail grass" (Phleum pratense), a native British grass introduced to the American colonies and cultivated there from c. 1720. Said since 1765 to be so called for a certain Timothy Hanson, who is said to have promoted it in the Carolinas as an agricultural plant.
1858 in reference to a type of fragrant grass, and especially to the oil it yields, from French citronelle "lemon liquor," from citron (see citrus). Originally an Asiatic grass used in perfumes and soaps, later applied to a substance found in lemon oil, etc. Related: Citronellic.
upbeat parting exclamation, British, 1896 as cheero; 1918 as cheerio; from cheer. The breakfast cereal Cheerios debuted in 1941 as CheeriOats; the name was shortened in 1945.
1823, from Japanese zori, from so "grass, (rice) straw" + ri "footwear, sole."
in couch-grass, 1570s; a corruption of Old English cwice "living, alive" (see quick (adj.)).
