gridiron
noun
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Modern gridirons are covered in football players when they're in use, but the original gridirons were more likely to be covered with meat or fish; they were metal gratings used for broiling food over an open fire. In Middle English, such a grating was called a gredil, a root that gave modern English both gridiron and griddle. How did gridiron become associated with football? That happened in the late 1800s, when a white grid pattern was added to football fields to help enforce new rules about how many yards a team had to gain to keep possession of the ball. From high up in the stands, the lines made the playing fields look like cooking gridirons.
Examples of gridiron in a Sentence
Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 June 2024
The Huskies and Panthers met for the first time ever on the gridiron last season, with Georgia State winning, 35-14, in Atlanta.
—Kels Dayton, Hartford Courant, 16 May 2024
Listen to this article Despite the recent outrage and calls to end court-storming, the act of bum-rushing the hardwood (or gridiron), will not suddenly be going out of style.
—Bob Raissman, New York Daily News, 2 Mar. 2024
The documentary captures the team’s journey through adversity on and off the gridiron.
—Eric Guzmán, Detroit Free Press, 11 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gridiron 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gridiron.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Gridiron.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gridiron. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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gridiron
noun
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