ˈeel-grass Chiefly U.S.
[See eel n. 6.]
A plant with long narrow leaves: (a) = grass-wrack (grass n.1 14); (b) = tape-grass (tape n.1 4); (c) fig.
| 1790 S. Deane New-England Farmer 19/1 The farmer..may cart into it [stock-yard]..marsh-mud, eel-grass, flats, or even sand and loam [for making manure]. 1806 Baltimore Even. Post 19 Feb. 3/3 (Th.), A young man at Sullivan [Maine] saw a Fox go down to some eel-grass, and roll himself up in it. 1838 Rep. Agric. Mass. 1837 58 The eel-grass is of little value except as litter. 1864 Lowell Fireside Trav. 45 The kelp and eel-grass left by higher floods. 1867 Amer. Naturalist May 164 Go to the nearest brook, gather..a root of the Eel grass, [etc.]. 1880 C. E. Bessey Botany 473 Order Hydrocharideæ.—This contains the Eel Grass, Vallisneria spiralis. 1884 Miller Plant-n. 58/1 Tape, or eel grass, Vallisneria spiralis. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 65 Jungles of eel-grass and meadows of lily pads. 1893 B. Torrey Foot-path Way 39 The beach was strewn with sea-weeds and eel-grass. 1901 ‘H. McHugh’ John Henry 53 He's running his fingers through the eel-grass on his topknot and looking wise. 1951 Dict. Gardening (R. Hort. Soc.) IV. 2192/2 V[allisneria] spiralis, eelgrass, tapegrass. 1956 Ibid. Suppl. 200/2 Eel-grass,..a name also used for species of Zostera but these are of no horticultural importance. |