seaweed
(ˈsiːwiːd)
[f. sea n. + weed n.]
1. collect. Any marine plants of the class Algæ (see alga).
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. ii. (1586) 56 b, Wrap it in seaweede. 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Alga marina, reeks or sea weede, Alga. 1667 Milton P.L. vii. 404 Part single or with mate Graze the Sea weed thir pasture. 1734 Pope Ess. Man iv. 292 Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows, From dirt and sea-weed as proud Venice rose. 1762 Mills Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 91 A fresh manure of sea-weed being laid on each year that barley is sown. 1855 Dickens Dorrit xx, Funeral garlands of sea-weed twisted about them by the late tide. 1906 O. C. Malvery Soul Market xvii. 268 Mattresses of American leather stuffed with sea-weed. |
2. A particular marine alga.
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary July 1645, Ashes made of a sea-weede brought out of Syria. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) IV. 195 He shewed some sea-weeds inclosed in crystal. 1837–42 Hawthorne Twice-t. Tales, Foot-pr. on Sea-shore 4 A sea⁓weed, with an immense brown leaf. 1894 H. Drummond Ascent of Man 414 Whole classes in the plant world—the sea-weeds for instance—have no roots at all. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
seaweed belt,
seaweed collector,
seaweed-green n. and
adj.,
seaweed limpet,
seaweed poultice;
seaweed-covered adj.;
seaweed-fern, the hart's tongue,
Scolopendrium vulgare;
seaweed-marquetry (see
quot. 1975).
| 1884 Geikie Phys. Geog. xiv. (1886) 120 The *sea-weed belt which fringes the land has an average breadth of about a mile. |
| 1865 Mrs. L. L. Clarke Seaweeds ii. 42 A useful hand-book for the *seaweed collector. |
| 1900 Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.) Jan. 28 *Seaweed-covered rocks. |
| 1865 Hardwicke's Sci. Gossip 1 Aug. 190 The *Seaweed-fern. |
| 1937 Burlington Mag. Oct. p. xxiii/1 A wine-ewer of translucent *seaweed green jade. 1965 [see kawa-kawa1 2]. 1976 J. Wilson Let's Pretend i. 7 The bunches of seaweed green ribbon. 1979 Guardian 28 Feb. 13/2 The skirt is a seaweed green verging on khaki. |
| 1858 H. & A. Adams Recent Mollusca I. 467 The ‘*Sea-weed Limpet’ is readily distinguished from the Rock Limpet. |
| 1935 Burlington Mag. May 233/2 King William's writing-table in *seaweed marquetry, with his cypher. 1967 G. Sims Last Best Friend xiv. 120 The carpet was a spinach-green Gobelin and there were Cromwellian chairs and a seaweed marquetry desk. 1975 Oxf. Compan. Decorative Arts 699/1 Seaweed marquetry, marquetry patterns composed of very fine elements resembling seaweed or endive leaves. |
| 185. Mayne Expos. Lex., Cataplasma Fuci, the *sea-weed poultice for scrofula [etc.]. |
Hence
ˈseaweeded a., covered with seaweed;
ˈseaweeding vbl. n., the action of collecting seaweed;
ˈseaweedy a., covered with seaweed; characteristic of seaweed.
| 1832 F. A. Kemble Let. in Rec. Girlhood (1878) III. 178 Those..sea-weedy shores. 1845 Hirst Poems 162 Half hidden in drifted sand, Sea-weeded, mossy, black with age, are bones. 1865 Mrs. L. L. Clarke Seaweeds i. 17 The preparations for a seaweeding. 1866 Intell. Observ. No. 53. 335 The sea-weedy smell. |
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seaweed wrap n. a type of beauty treatment intended to revitalize the skin and relax the body, typically involving the application of a seaweed-based paste to the skin, and the wrapping of the body in heated sheets.
| 1985 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) 26 Aug. b5/2 In addition to the *seaweed wraps, there are treatments like the German Thalasso therapy. 2000 I. Edward-Jones My Canapé Hell (2001) xii. 301, I have..regular waxes, pedicures, manicures, body brushings, eyebrow pluckings, massages, seaweed wraps, de-toxes, Cellophane wraps..and I still insist..I just do yoga and drink plenty of water. |