on the turf
1
3.2
- idiom
:
en el campo
- During the game, the referee called a foul on the turf after a player tripped another.
- play on the turf
Oh, and then just face down on the turf for like a touchback.
- Oh, and then just face down on the turf for like a touchback.
Examples
-
Two of her offspring won on the turf.
Blog text (9) -
" She's had eight starts on the turf and has never been worse than second.
Blog text (15) -
His first start was scheduled for a mile on the turf, but was run on the sloppy main track.
Blog text (9) -
Smitten also has one additional start, finishing 4th at a mile on the turf at Keeneland on October 7.
Blog text (30) -
On the other hand, Lady of Shamrock ran 9f on the turf the same day in 1:46:80.
Blog text (23) -
Hughes also has one additional start, finishing 9th at 7.5 furlongs on the turf at Remington Park on August 30.
Blog text (30) -
Yesterday, in the seventh race, you know, the feature, which was a mile and a sixteenth on the turf, the winner ran the last fraction in twenty-two and a half.
Fiction book (2000) -
The soccer players are practicing their drills on the turf before the big match.
-
The football team will hold their training session on the turf at the stadium.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'on a sports field' is directly and compositionally derived from the known preposition 'on' (location) combined with 'turf' (layer of grass or playing surface); the definite article 'the' does not alter the compositional meaning. This location-based preposition + noun pattern is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
On the turf comes from the real surface players use: turf is the grass or artificial grass on a playing field. So being on the turf means being 'on a sports field' where players run and play.