ˈcrab-grass
[f. crab n.1]
1. The Glasswort, Salicornia herbacea, a marine plant common in salt-marshes. ? Obs.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. cxlvii. 429 The herbe is also called..Kali articulatum, or iointed Glassewoort..in English Crab Grasse, and Frog grasse. 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 285 Glasswort is sometimes called..Crab-grass. |
2. The Knot-grass. (Britten and Holland.)
3. In U.S. A species of grass, Panicum sanguinale; also other allied species.
| 1743 J. F. Gronovius Flora Virginica 134 Panicum spicis alternis oppositisve [etc.]..Crab-grass. 1785 Jefferson Notes Virginia 69 Our grasses are Lucerne,..greenswerd, blue grass, and crab grass. 1833 B. Silliman Man. Sugar Cane 13 The Crab Grass (Digitaria sanguinalis) which comes up abundantly on new land, is cut up with hoes. 1881 G. W. Cable Mad. Delphine viii. 45 In its old walks..crab-grass had spread. 1885 Harper's Mag. Dec. 133 A field in which crab-grass had grown in the place of the harvested wheat. |