graze

graze

1. To eat small amounts of food over a period of time, usually instead of full meals. I've been grazing all day, so I'm not very hungry right now.
2. To eat a variety of foods in small quantities at one time, instead of a full meal. I'm not too hungry, I think I'll just graze at the party.
3. To touch or scrape one without causing significant injury. Often said of gunshot wounds. You're so lucky the bullet only grazed your shoulder—a few inches lower, and you would have been in big trouble.

graze against (someone or something)

To lightly touch or brush against someone or something. The room was so crowded that I ended up grazing against a bunch of people on my way to the refreshment table. The feather grazed against my neck and made me shiver.
See also: graze

graze on (something)

1. Of animals, to eat the greens or vegetables in a particular area or location. I put up a fence to try to keep the deer from grazing on my land.
2. Of animals, to eat something in particular. I put up a fence to try to keep the deer from grazing on the vegetables in my garden.
3. Of people, to eat small amounts of food over a period of time, usually instead of full meals. I've been grazing on snacks all day, so I'm not very hungry right now.
4. Of people, to eat a variety of foods in small quantities at one time, instead of a full meal. I'm not too hungry, I think I'll just graze on some snacks at the party.
See also: graze, on
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

graze against someone or something

to brush or scrape against someone or something. The car grazed against the side of the truck. I grazed against an old man as I was jogging this morning.
See also: graze

graze on something

 
1. [for animals] to browse or forage in a particular location. The cattle are grazing on the neighbor's land. I wish they wouldn't graze on other people's land.
2. [for animals] to browse or forage, eating something in particular. The deer are grazing on my carrots! The cows were grazing on the meadow grasses for weeks.
See also: graze, on
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

graze

and browse
in. to eat a bit of everything at parties. We will just graze on party snacks rather than eat a full meal. I think I’ll just browse here and skip going out to dinner.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • could eat a horse
  • I could eat a horse
  • I could eat a horse!
  • go hungry
  • could eat the crutch out of a low-flying duck
  • be off (one's) food
  • be off your food
  • hungry for
References in periodicals archive
The online graze business, Fletcher noted, has created over 1,700 products, and all are free from artificial additives and preservatives, are 100% GMO free, and have no trans fats or high fructose corn syrup.
Graze brings its healthy snacks to U.S. retailers
Caption: Dairy cattle graze fall-grown Ogle oats in mid-November.
Optimizing oats for use as dairy forage
She noted that grazing fees were seldom charged until Congress passed the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934, but the Supreme Court had upheld its right to collect such fees 23 years earlier: "Congress has not conferred upon citizens the right to graze stock upon the public lands," the court ruled in 1911.
Law on grazing is clear
As more settlers took advantage of the implied license to graze
Grazing in wilderness areas
If you have good quality tame pastures (with adequate rainfall or irrigation) you can get maximum beef production per acre by using rotational grazing, timing the grazing of each small pasture segment when the plants are most ready, then letting them regrow while you graze another part.
Management on a small acreage
The study also revealed that men graze less but spend more time eating meals than women.
High earners munch frequently at work, stay healthier
Similar to the SF management practice, the stockers were allowed to graze until May and then removed.
Late-summer infiltration as affected by cropping and grazing management of winter-wheat pastures
In 1991, with the implementation of the management program in Palo Verde, cattle were introduced into the park and allowed to graze within a 200 ha fenced-in area called La Carreta.
Changes in composition and structure of a tropical dry forest following intermittent cattle grazing
While Sechrist mimicked this pattern during one 18-month rain-free period--he sent the entire herd to graze in another part of Texas--he now deals with the drought by limiting the herd size to 90, down from 200.
Good grazing? Advocates say free-range cattle can have environmental benefits. (Currents)
I asked them about the almost two hundred springs, creek wells, and other water sources on those grazing allotments that were clearly owned by me as well as the right to graze those lands.
Rancher wins fight for rights: Rancher Wayne Hage's decade-long struggle for his property rights resulted in a significant victory this year in the United States Court of Federal Claims. (Cover Story - Land Grab)
Why thin mustang herds when around 4 million cows can graze on federal land?
Wild mustangs. (Environmental News)
The company also benefitted from the century-old ranching operation, cashing in on valuable permits to graze cattle on U.S.
A-B will suspend high-impact grazing
The cost to graze the same cattle on private land in Jackson Hole would be about $81,900, meaning that the ranchers enjoy more than $70,000 in subsidies each year.
The Beef with Livestock
As part of the deal, they assumed they had the customary communal right to graze their herds, hunt, and cut wood in the ejido, the nearby hills and mountains of the Rio Culebra watershed - an area that their descendants would argue included the future Taylor Ranch.
TREASURE OF LA SIERRA
Jo Simpson, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Land Management, says the government is treating the Dann family no differently than it does other ranchers, who must obtain permits before they can graze their animals on federal land.
Sisters fight for treaty rights