[Ads-l] "grow" as noun

[Amy West]

On 1/31/24 12:00 AM, ADS-L automatic digest system wrote:
> Date:    Tue, 30 Jan 2024 21:17:30 -0500
> From:    Ben Zimmer<bgzimmer at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject: Re: "grow" as noun
>
> OED doesn't have this sense of "grow" yet, but it does have "grow
> operation" ("a marijuana-growing enterprise or facility") from 1986, and
> "grow-op" from 1997. I'd guess bare "grow" is a further clipping of this.
>
> Here's an antedating for "grow operation."
>
> ---
> https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-bellingham-herald-grow-operation/139931628/
> Bellingham (Wash.) Herald, Apr. 12, 1984, p. B1, col. 4
> Three men were arrested Wednesday in Sudden Valley in connection with a
> marijuana growing operation. ...  Sandell said after the deputies entered
> the residence it "became real apparent there was a grow operation."
> ---
>
> --bgz


I'd add "grow house" alongside "grow operation", with the "house" not 
necessarily being a greenhouse but rather a residential house. And 
because of that, "grow" may be used to indicate an outdoor, open-air 
operation.

Have I mentioned my "Wait a minute. Those aren't tomato plants . . . " 
moment when viewing a backyard neighbor's (a tax lawyer's) garden?

---Amy West (in MA)

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