Green’s Dictionary of Slang

of a prize-fighter, one who has been knocked down.

1825

Pierce Egan’s Life in London 2 Jan. 389/2: Samson made one or two excellent stops, but nevertheless he got into Pepper Alley, and was made a member of the Turf Club, by a flooring hit .

1. to work as a prostitute.

1834		‘Those London Mots’ in Bang-Up Songster 38: Those London mots, those leary mots, / They turf it o’er the streets in lots.
1837–8		‘Tale Of A Shift’ in Cuckold’s Nest 35: Now she’s a blowen, as you see, / And turfs it every night so free.

2. to sleep outdoors, usu. under a tent.

1883

J. Greenwood Odd People in Odd Places 6: It had been arranged [...] she should ‘sleep on the turf,’ that is to say, with no other shelter than the little arched hovel of canvas. [...] She was in high spirits, probably on account of the immediate prospect of ‘turfing it.’.

3. to live as a tramp.

1899		J. Flynt Tramping with Tramps 354: After they’s turfed it a bit they’re gone. Better let ’em alone.
1921		P. & T. Casey Gay-cat 303: Hit the Road; Turf It — to tramp; to be on the bum; to hobo.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 228/1: Turf it. (Hobo) To leave town or a hobo camp to travel.

1. (also turf, turf off) to eject, to throw out, supposedly on to some grass; to dismiss from a job.

1860		Potter Jrnl (Coudersport, PA) 25 Oct. 1/4: [set in London] What a couple of muffs we are! Why don’t you turf the thing?
1888		Kipling Only Subaltern in Under Deodars 97: The Colonel will turf you out of that in double quick time .
1904		Wodehouse Gold Bat [ebook] ‘[He] went straight to the Old Man, and Patterson got turfed out on the spot’.
1915		R.P. Hamilton diary 28 Jan. 🌐 Inspected billet. Turfed off by C.O. for being late and piffle jawed because I stopped him using accessories I think.
1925		Wodehouse Carry on, Jeeves 73: The old boy turfed me out.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 174: Vern tried to join in the party, but we turfed him out.
1969		R. Rendell Best Man To Die (1981) 161: He faked a quarrel with her in the car on the way back to London and turfed her out of the car in a rage.
1973		H. Leonard Da (1981) Act II: I’m turfing you out.
1986		F. Taylor Auf Wiedersehen Pet Two 122: Wayne, if he’s turfin’ all of you out, you must have put up some kind of black.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 1: The Foster family are up to their eyes in hock. They used to live in a unit in Bondi but they got turfed out.
1996		A. Close Official and Doubtful 73: I hung on though. Wasn’t going to give the bastards the satisfaction of turfing me out.
2000		S. Maloney Big Ask 73: I clearly needed some updating on Donny’s recent history. Turfed by the brewery?
2007		L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] ‘Your mum would kill me if she knew I’d turfed you out onto the streets of Kings Cross’.
2017		T. Spicer Good Girl Stripped Bare 43: Mum was turfed out of home at the age of seventeen.
2017		L. McInerney Blood Miracles 90: ‘I didn’t do [the leaving exam] coz I got turfed out, not because I was too thick’.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 156: ‘They turfed us out at dawn’.

2. (N.Z., also turf) to reject a lover.

1959

G. Slatter Gun in My Hand 100: He’d just got a letter from his girl friend. She was marrying a Marine. So you boys elected him to the Turf Club. Another good boy turfed by a girl back here.

(Aus.) to abandon, to leave a job.

1941

Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.