gridiron

A gridiron

Meanings

An instrument of torture on which people were secured before being burned by fire.
An iron rack or grate used for broiling meat and fish over coals.
Any object resembling the rack or grate.
An openwork frame on which vessels are placed for examination, cleaning, and repairs.
A raised framework from which lighting is suspended.
The field on which American football is played.
American and Canadian football, particularly when used to distinguish from other codes of football.

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

Origin uncertain, perhaps related to griddle. The ending was assimilated to iron, as if from grid + iron, whence grid was later derived.
From resembling the shape of a gridiron (a square rectilinear grid)

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