ˈsalt-marsh
[salt a.1: cf. G. salzmarsch.]
a. Marsh overflowed or flooded by the sea; spec. one in which the sea water is collected for the manufacture of salt. (Cf. salting 3.)
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) cvi. 33 He þa weaxendan wende eorðan on sealtne mersc [Vulg. in salsuginem]. [So: a 1300 E.E. Psalter cvi. 34 Stremes in wildernes sete he..In salt-mersche land fruitberande. a 1325 Prose Psalter cvi[i]. 33 Saltmerche.] 14.. Tretyce in W. of Henley's Husb. (1890) 53 Good kyne go in good pasture off salt maries. 1583 in Collect. (O.H.S.) I. 234 If any lands or salt marsh are reclaimed from the sea. 1686 Plymouth Col. Rec. (1836) VI. 183 It is ordered, that Patience..shall haue..the vse of about two acres of salt marish att the island. 1725 Fam. Dict., Salt-marsh, a sort of Grazing Ground near the Sea, which is commonly very rich land. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Salt, Low Marshy Grounds, disposed by Nature for the Reception of the Sea-waters when the Tide swells, and provided with Banks and Sluices to retain the same, are called a Salt-marsh. 1828 J. E. Smith Eng. Flora II. 95 In muddy salt-marshes. 1832 Tennyson Mariana in South 9 Down in the dry salt-marshes stood That house darklatticed. |
b. attrib., in specific names of plants and animals found on salt marshes.
| 1855 T. R. Jones Anim. Kingd. (ed. 2) 462 The salt-marsh shrimp, Artemia salinus. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower Pl. I. 198 The Salt-marsh Club rush (Scirpus maritimus). 1862 Harper's Mag. Nov. 737/2 ‘Salt-marsh fly’—is a nuisance found everywhere..near salt marshes. 1872 Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc. XII. 475 The salt-marsh terrapin. 1932 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Aug. 4/7 The salt marsh mosquito causes intense discomfort. 1972 Swan & Papp Common Insects N. Amer. xxii. 592 Salt-marsh Mosquito: Aedes sollicitans. Ibid., The California Salt-marsh Mosquito..breeds in salt marshes and tide pools along the Pacific coast. |
c. attrib. in general use.
| 1937 Discovery Apr. 98/2 The occupation was brought to an end with the onset of salt-marsh conditions. 1960 J. J. Rowlands Spindrift 91 The salt-marsh hayfields are favorite stopping-places for geese and ducks on their northward flight. 1975 J. G. Evans Environment Early Man Brit. Isles vii. 180 Later stages in the saltmarsh succession form good sheep pasture. |