come to grass—(Mining ) come up to the pit-head:
- Let us now watch the men ascending from the mine after work. This is what they call “coming to grass.”
Note: The expression is not antonymous in meaning to the phrase come off the grass—(Austral. sl.) used as an expression of disbelief or a plea to stop talking nonsense:
- Come off the grass, Mary. High Court judges are not the Alpha and Omega of all wisdom.
go to grass—
1. (of cattle) graze:
- The vaccination program for dairy calves should be completed before they go to grass.
2. (coll.) fall down; come to the ground:
- His legs got tangled and he went to grass, losing the race.
3. (coll.) go on a holiday or into retirement:
- A gentleman declared that he might go to grass with his old canoe.
4. (dated) is used to rudely tell a person to go away and stop being annoying (also: go to grass and eat hay):
- She fell into a fit of anger, bidding him to “go to grass with his invitations.”