Gridiron (noun)
grid-ay-ern
an American football field.
Gridiron originally meant “griddle” and evolved to refer to things resembling griddles and, ultimately, to sports fields that prominently feature intersecting lines. The term comes from Middle English gridirne, which became gridiron because of a false association with the unrelated word irne, “iron,” perhaps because of the metal rods used in griddles. Gridiron was first recorded in English in the late 13th century.
Example sentences
“They players poured onto the gridiron ready for the game.”