grasseater

See also: grass-eater

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

grasseater (plural grasseaters)

1. (offensive, slang, ethnic slur) A white person, especially an Irishman.
   • 2002, Jan Pottker, Janet and Jackie: The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter‎^[1], page 12:

     When the "green mouths," as the impoverished Irish grasseaters were dubbed, entered the United States, they brought cholera, consumption, and typhus with them.

2. (slang) Alternative spelling of grass-eater (type of police officer)
3. A herbivore or similar grazing animal.
   • 2010, Anwar A Abdullah, East West - Sword and Word‎^[2], page 289:

     And most of those grasseaters like horses, ox, camels, and llamas had shown early appearance on earth and since its early Cainozoic.

4. (derogatory) A vegetarian or vegan.
   • 2009, Robert I. C. Fisher, Fodor's Switzerland‎^[3], page 51:

     Founded in 1898, when vegetarians were regarded as “grasseaters,” this restaurant has more than proved its staying power.

References

• American slang