ˈsugar-cane
[f. sugar n. + cane n.1 Cf. F. canne à sucre, † de sucre, Sp. caña de azucar, Pg. canna d'assucar.]
A tall stout perennial grass, Saccharum officinarum, cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical countries, and forming the chief source of manufactured sugar.
African sugar-cane or Chinese sugar-cane: see imphee, sorgho b, sorghum 1 b.
| 1568 tr. Thevet's New found Worlde lxxvii. 126 The stalke groweth like to Suger Canes. 1582 N. Lichefield tr. Castanheda's Conq. E. Ind. i. xi. 28 By these messengers were presented..three Sheepe, many Orenges, and Sugar Canes. c 1592 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. 1814 The Meads,..Instead of Sedge and Reed, beare Sugar Canes. 1624 Capt. J. Smith Virginia iv. 149 Their mighty wealth of Sugar canes, being first transported from the Canaries. 1662 J. Davies tr. Mandelslo's Trav. 135 Sugar Canes, eighteen foot long, and seven inches about. 1779 Hervey Nav. Hist. II. 203 The first introduction of the sugar-cane into the English West-India settlements, is said to be in the year 1641. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food of Man 382 The Sugar-Cane..must be considered..a native of China. 1857 H. S. Olcott (title) Sorgho and Imphee, the Chinese and African Sugar Canes. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 697 Holcus saccharatus or Sorghum saccharatum, is called the North China Sugar-cane or Sweet Sorgho. 1878 Morley Diderot II. 243 A gang of negro-slaves work among the sugar-canes. |
| attrib. 1838 T. Thomson Chem. Org. Bodies 625 The substances which he found in sugar-cane juice. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1195 Sugar-cane mill. 1876 Nature 14 Dec. 150 The Sugar-Cane Disease in the May River District, Queensland. |