‖ spatha
(ˈspeɪθə)
Pl. spathæ (-θiː).
[L. spatha, ad. Gr. σπάθη broad blade, broad flat piece of wood, stem of a palm-leaf, spatula, etc.]
1. Bot. A spathe.
| 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl. s.v., The spatha is of very different texture..in different plants. 1760 [see spadiceous a. 2]. 1769 E. Bancroft Guiana 31 A tough ligneous cylindrical stalk..terminated by a conic, reddish purple spatha. 1796 Stedman Surinam II. xix. 66 The seed is enclosed in a brownish kind of spatha, that arises from the center of the branches. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 175 Flowers..bursting through an irregularly lacerated spatha. 1850 Tyas Favourite Field Fl. Ser. ii. 18 The daffodils were showing their..petals through the transparent spatha. |
| transf. 1834 tr. Raspail's Org. Chem. 283 If..we examine a feather..we may..satisfy ourselves, that its tube is formed and grows by means of spathæ, one within another. |
2. A flat blade-shaped implement.
| 1881 J. Anderson Scot. in Early Chr. T. Ser. ii. i. 32 At its right side lay an iron knife, a weaver's rubbing-bone, and spatha of whalebone. |