graze

noun

1. The act of grazing; a scratching or injuring lightly on passing.
2. A light abrasion; a slight scratch.
3. The act of animals feeding from pasture.

   “If it be sundown, when the herds are returning from their daily graze in the long grass of the jungle, clouds of dust will be marking their track along every approach to the village […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To feed or supply (cattle, sheep, etc.) with grass; to furnish pasture for.

   “He hath a Houſe and Barn in repair, a Field or two to graze his Cows, with a Garden and Orchard.”

   “Although it is perfectly good meadowland, none of the villagers has ever grazed animals on the meadow on the other side of the wall.”

2. (ambitransitive)To feed on; to eat (growing herbage); to eat grass from (a pasture)

   “Cattle graze in the meadows.”

   “The lambs vvith vvolves ſhall graze the verdant mead, / And boys in flovv'ry bands the tyger lead; […]”

   “The bird [Canada goose] is more often found on land than other waterfowl because of its love for seeds and grains. The long neck is well adapted for grazing.”

3. (transitive)To tend (cattle, etc.) while grazing.

   “Shylock: When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep”

4. (intransitive)To eat small amounts of food periodically throughout the day, rather than at fixed mealtimes, often not in response to hunger.

   “Furthermore, people who take the time to sit down to proper meals find their food more satisfying than people who graze throughout the day. If you skip meals, you will inevitably end up snacking on more high-fat high-sugar foods.”

   “Many people, however, snack and graze from roughly the time they wake up until shortly before they go to bed.”

5. To shoplift by consuming food or drink items before reaching the checkout.

   “Grazing refers to customers who consume food items before paying for them, for example, a customer bags one and a half pounds of grapes in the produce department, eats some as she continues her shopping […]”

   “Had the Grievant attempted to pay for the Mylanta or actually paid for it, then she would not be guilty of grazing or shoplifting.”

6. (transitive)To rub or touch lightly the surface of (a thing) in passing.

   “the bullet grazed the wall”

   “But in that gale, the port, the land, is that ship’s direst jeopardy; she must fly all hospitality; one touch of land, though it but graze the keel, would make her shudder through and through.”

7. (transitive)To cause a slight wound to; to scratch.

   “to graze one's knee”

8. (intransitive)To yield grass for grazing.

   “The sewers must be kept so as the water may not stay too long in the spring; for then the ground continueth the wet, whereby it will never graze to purpose that year.”