▪ I. sedge, n.1
(sɛdʒ)
Forms: 1 sæcg, secg (sech, seic, secgg, segc, segg), 3–5 segge (? gg = (dʒ)), 5 sege, cegge, (7 sage), 5– sedge; β. 6–7 segge (? gg = g), 9 dial. seag, 5–7, 9 dial. seg(g.
[OE. sęcg masc., once neut. (cf. LG. segge fem., Br. Wbuch.):—OTeut. type *sagjo-z, f. root *sag- (:—Indogermanic *sək-: *sē̆k- in L. secāre to cut): cf. saw n.2 For the etymological notion cf. quot. 1398 in 1 a below, and the L. gladiolus, which the OE. word renders in glosses; also the rare OE. sęcg fem. (:—*sagjā) a sword.
From the same root is OHG. sahor, sahir, sahar ‘scirpus, juncus, carex’ (MHG., mod.G. dial. saher sedge, reeds, young shoots of corn). According to some scholars the OCeltic *seskā sedge (Irish seisg, Welsh hêsg, Breton hesq) is for *sekskā from the root *sek-.
The phonology of the β forms is somewhat obscure. In most of the words which have parallel forms with final (dʒ) and (g), the latter may be accounted for by Scandinavian influence, and are confined to dialects in which that influence is powerful. The present word, however, is not known in Scandinavian, and its dialectal range extends to the S.W. Counties. Possibly it may be an euphonic variant originating in compounds where the second element began with a spirant. The form segge, common from the 13th to the 17th c., is of doubtful phonetic interpretation; probably down to the 15th c. it commonly stands for (sɛdʒ), and in later instances most frequently for (sɛg).]
1. A name for various coarse grassy, rush-like or flag-like plants growing in wet places; also (in different localities) variously applied spec., e.g. to the cyperaceous genera Carex and Cladium, to the Sweet Flag (Acorus) and the Wild Iris (Iris Pseudacorus).
In early instances it is often impossible to determine what particular plant is intended; the Latin words which are glossed by ‘sedge’ were prob. seldom used with any very precise notion of their meaning.
a. As the name of a kind of plant; also collect. sing., plants of this kind growing together in a mass.
| α c 725 Corpus Gloss. 977 Gladiolum, saecg [Erfurt secg; Epinal segg]. Ibid. 371 Carix, secg [Erfurt sech; Leiden seic]. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 135 Carex, uel sabium, uel lisca, secg. a 1250 Owl & Night. 18 Þe niȝtingale..sat up one vaire boȝe,..in ore waste þicke hegge, imeind mid spire & grene segge. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xxxv. (Tollemache MS.), Segge is an herbe most harde and scharpe: þe stalke þerof is þre cornered, and kutteþ and kerueth þe honde þat it holdeþ. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 451/2 Segge, star of the fenne, carix. Segge, of fenne, or wyld gladon..accorus. Ibid. 64/2 Cegge, or wylde gladone, accorus. c 1590 Marlowe Jew of Malta iv. 1814 The Meads, the Orchards, and the Primrose lanes, Instead of Sedge and Reed, beare Sugar Canes. 1622 Drayton Poly-olb. xx. 139 Some againe..Of Cat-tayles made them Crownes, which from the Sedge doth grow, Which neatly wouen were. 1660 Tatham Roy. Oak 6 Four Virgins cloathed in white loose garments, and their Brows circled with Sage, representing the Nymphs that frequent Rivers. 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §15 (1689) 46 Flags (or, as some call them, Sedges). 1798 Coleridge Anc. Mar. v. vii, And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge. 1881 A. O'Shaughnessy Songs of a Worker 137 Close to the canes and swaying sedge Of every dim lake's hidden edge. |
| β 1538 Turner Libellus, s.v. Acorum, Varie nominant Northumbrienses a seg..a flag, a yelowe flourdelyce. 1551 Turner Herbal i. H v, Carex is the latin name of an herbe whiche we cal in english segge or shergresse... This herbe that I do take to be carex, groweth in fennes and in water sides. a 1552 Leland Itin. (1768) III. 85 Ther be Men alyve that saw almost al the Town of Pole kyverid with Segge and Risshis. 1606 S. Gardiner Bk. Angling 34 The bushes and segge in the riuer shall not shrowd them. 1819 H. Busk Banquet i. 414 Lentini's bee would now disdain to crop The scatter'd seg upon Paderno's top. 1899 Dickinson & Prevost Cumberld. Gloss. s.v. Mekkins, Seag, Yellow iris or Corn Flag, Iris pseudacorus. |
b. collect. pl.| α 1388 Wyclif Gen. xli. 18 Seuene kiyn..gaderiden grene seggis in the pasture of the marreis. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. i. 525 A stondyng..couered wel with shingil, tile or broom—Or segges ar as gode to my dome. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 42 Than the scheiphyrdis vyuis cuttit raschis and seggis. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. Induct. ii. 53 Adonis painted by a running brooke, And Citherea all in sedges hid. 1612 Two Noble K. iv. i, As I late was angling In the great Lake.., From the far shore, thicke set with reedes and Sedges,..I heard a voyce. 1770 Goldsm. Des. Vill. 42 No more thy glossy brook reflects the day, But, chok'd with sedges, works its weedy way. 1831 Scott Ct. Rob. xx, The..statue of a river deity,..its front crowned with water-lilies and sedges, and its ample hand half-resting upon an empty urn. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xxi, A man cutting sedges in a punt in the lode alongside..leapt on shore. |
| β 1594 Kyd Cornelia iii. iii. 15 And on the strond vpon the Riuer side..I woaue a Coffyn for his corse of Seggs, That with the winde dyd waue like bannerets. 1600 Weakest goeth to Wall C 4 b, How first I found thee, being but a child: Hid in the segges fast by a Riuer side. 1631 Widdowes Nat. Philos. 49 Acorus is a plant growing with leaves like Iris, but smaller, or like segges. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. 805 You lay lurking behind the seggs. 1777 Lightfoot Flora Scotica II. 1078 Iris pseudacorus. Segs, i.e. Sedge. 1853 G. Johnston Bot. E. Bord. 194 Bundles of Seggs tied together used to be employed by children learning to swim. 1898 J. A. Gibbs Cotsw. Vill. 359 Among the sword-flags and the green rushes and ‘segs’. |
c. An individual plant or stalk of sedge.
rare.
| a 1450 Ratis Raving 1984 To mak..of a seg a swerd of were. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. vii. 29 Giuing a gentle kisse to euery sedge He ouer-taketh in his pilgrimage. 1761 Ann Reg. IV. Usef. Proj. 128 Having frequently seen children at play with seggs in their mouths, by blowing them, in order to make a noise. 1879 Jefferies Wild Life in S. Co. ii. 22 A few sedges here and there..betoken that once there was a stream. |
d. Bot. Formerly, a plant of the genus
Carex; now usually in wider sense (after Lindley), a plant of the N.O.
Cyperaceæ.
| 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxviii. (1794) 433 Carex or Sedge, is a most numerous genus of the same order, and the same natural tribe. 1846 Lindley Veg. Kingd. 117 Order xxx. Cyperaceæ. Sedges. 1869 Ruskin Q. of Air §79 The sedges are essentially the clothing of..uncultivable soils, coarse in their structure, frequently triangular in stem..and with their heads of seed not extricated from their leaves. |
e. With defining words.
† red sedge, ? some cyperaceous plant.
sea sedge, the Sweet Flag,
Acorus Calamus (Syd.
Soc. Lex. 1898); also
Carex arenaria.
sweet, yellow sedge, the Wild Iris,
Iris Pseudacorus.
stinking sedge, the Gladdon,
Iris fœtidissima. Also in book-names of various cyperaceous plants: see
quot. 1859. Also broom-
sedge.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 102 Wiþ bancoþe þæt is oman nim niᵹontyne snæda eolonan & nyᵹon ontran & endlefan reades secges. a 1490 Botoner Itin. (1778) 288 Shevys de reede segge. 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 254 Freckles, seethe the root of stinking segs in Cowes milke, and vse it. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 90 Sea Seg. In loose moveable sand on the sea shore. 1839 F. A. Kemble Resid. in Georgia (1863) 69 A bed of tall yellow sedges. 1859 Miss Pratt Brit. Grasses 27 Order. Cyperaceæ..White sedge. Ibid. 29 Great Panicled Sedge. Ibid. 30 Great Sedge..Greater Prickly Sedge..Grey Sedge..Sea Sedge. Ibid. 32 Hoary Sedge..Black Sedge..Common Sedge. Ibid. 38 Great Pendulous Sedge. Ibid. 42 Great Common Sedge..Lesser Common Sedge. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xix, They brought in bundles of sweet sedge. |
f. The characteristic greenish- (or reddish-)brown shade of sedge.
| 1927 Daily Express 12 Mar. 3/5 Sedge, a bright shade similar to the always popular almond, but with a tendency towards jade. 1938 J. W. Day Dog in Sport iv. 66 By 1885 the present type had largely evolved, the main differences being that the breed then possessed one colour only, a dark brown shading into a reddish sedge. |
† 2. A leaf shaped like that of a sedge.
Obs.| 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 73 b, His vse is, to keepe a good while in his mouth the stalke or sedge of Barley. |
† 3. Her. A ‘spear reed’ or flag borne as a charge. Also one of the leaves with which this was figured.
Obs.| 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 57/2 He beareth Argent, a Spear Reed, Vert... These are termed also Sedges, Flaggs or Water-flaggs... A[rgent] on a Mount in Base 3 Reed Spears (sans leaves or sedges). |
4. Short for
sedge-fly: see 5. Chiefly
silver sedge.
| 1889 F. M. Halford Dry-Fly Fishing 209 A small sedge dressed on a No. O hook, either the silver sedge or an orange sedge with hare's ear body. 1902 S. Buxton Fishing & Shooting 93 To these [flies] I would personally add..the wickham, the silver sedge [etc.]. Ibid. 94 On some rivers, an alder, a sedge, or a caperer,..is not too large. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple attributive, as
sedge-bed,
† sedge-bush,
† sedge-collar,
sedge-family,
sedge-ground,
sedge-peat,
† sedge-plot;
sedge-like adj. b. instrumental, as
sedge-choked,
sedge-crowned,
sedge-embattled,
sedge-grown adjs.| 1871 Kingsley At Last viii, We hurried on over the water⁓furrows, and through the *sedge-beds to the further shore. |
| 1551 Turner Herbal i. H v, Thou lurkedest behynde the *segge bushes. 1647 Hexham 1, A Sedge-bush, or any place where sedge doth grow, Een bies-bosch. |
| 1942 W. Faulkner Go down, Moses 92 The old worn-out brier- and *sedge-choked fields spreading away. |
| 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 37 *Sedge collers for ploughhorse, for lightnes of neck. |
| 1749 Collins Ode on Thomson viii, But thou, lorn stream, whose sullen tide No *sedge-crown'd sisters now attend. 1848 A. Jameson Sacr. & Leg. Art (1850) 42 Instead of the winged angel we have the sedge-crowned river God. |
| 1934 E. Blunden Mind's Eye 138 We shall see..the gilt-leaved beechwood and the *sedge-embattled lake. |
| 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds (1860) 358 Order... Cyperaceæ (*Sedge Family.) |
| 1667 in Rec. Town Plymouth (Mass.) (1889) I. 95 All that pte of the pond or *sedge ground which lyeth between a place there called the Gurnett and the bounds of Samuell Ryders land. 1910 C. Harris Eve's Husband 30 The poor brown sedge-ground of an old field. |
| 1847 Lytton Lucretia ii. i, The whilom chase of Marylebone and the once *sedge-grown waters of Pimlico. |
| 1871 Kingsley At Last vii, You push on into a bed of strong *sedge-like Sclerias, with cutting edges to their leaves. |
| 1943 G. Erdtman Introd. Pollen Analysis i. 6 The comparatively low pine pollen frequency of a *sedge-peat was considered to be due to the fact that the pine sheds its pollen at a time when the sedges have attained full growth. 1952 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 61/2 We propose to..fork in ample horticultural sedge-peat in the spring. 1977 R. Davies Pract. Gardening Encycl. ii. 21/1 Sedge (or fen) peats are the remains of reeds and sedges and are dark coloured and well decayed. |
| 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 211 This of a *Sedgeplot and of a few fishermen's cotages..grew to be a mercate town exceeding rich. |
6. Special comb., as
sedge-bird = sedge-warbler;
† sedge-boat, ? a flat-bottomed boat for use in shallow or weed-grown rivers;
sedge-cock dial. = missel-thrush;
sedge-fly, a caddis, or may-fly; also, an imitation of this used in fly-fishing (
cf. sense 4);
sedge-grass = sense 1 (in
U.S. variously used
spec.);
† sedge-hill, ? an elevation, in the midst of marshy ground, covered with sedge;
sedge reedling = sedge-warbler;
† sedge reek, ? a stack of cut sedge;
sedge-root, (
a) the tuber of various kinds of sedge (
Cyperus esculentus,
C. bulbosus, etc.) used in some countries as an article of food; (
b)
= sedging;
† sedge-rug, ? a coarse material woven of sedge and resembling matting;
sedge-warbler, a small bird,
Acrocephalus schœnobænus, of the family
Sylviidæ, common in marshy districts;
sedge-willow, ? the osier;
† sedge-worm, some kind of worm used for bait;
sedge-wren = sedge-warbler; also, a small bird native to Australasia.
| 1738 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Birds III. 56 *Sedge Bird. 1883 Eng. Illustr. Mag. Nov. 71/2 The sedge-bird commenced its continuous chattering. |
| 1336–7 Rotuli Scotiæ I. 480 Ad octo batellos vocatos keles & *seggebotes in partibus de Lenn & Cantebrigg. |
| 1886 R. Holland Gloss. Words County Chester 305 *Sedcock,..the missel thrush... Sedgecock. 1955 E. Pound Classic Anthol. i. 75 June's green hopper moves a thigh, ‘Sedge-cock’ wings it in July. 1965 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 9 Mistle thrush... Sedgecock, Setcock, Sedcock: Oldham; nr. Stockport. |
| 1867 F. Francis Bk. Angling vi. 189 The *Sedge Fly..is a capital fly for all the southern and mid-county rivers..throughout the summer. |
| 1847 Darlington Amer. Weeds 362 Carex vulpinoidea... Sedge. *Sedge-grass. 1865 Kingsley Herew. Prelude ¶30 The cattle waded along their edges after the rich sedge-grass. |
| 1483 Cath. Angl. 328/1 A *Segg hylle, carectum. |
| 1839 Macgillivray Brit. Birds II. 390 Calamoherpe phragmitis. The *Sedge Reedling. |
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 451/2 *Segge reeke, caretum. |
| 1648 B. Plantagenet Descr. New Albion 25 Sweet *seg roots. 1850 F. Mason Nat. Product. Burmah 142 Sedge root. 1837 Brit. Husb. II. xiii. 182 (Libr. Usef. Knowl.), [The oat] is only partially subject to a disease called ‘sedge-root, or tulip-root’. |
| 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse A 4 b, Dame Niggardize, his wife, in a *sedge rugge kirtle. |
| 1776 Pennant Brit. Zool. II. 672 Index, Warblers, *sedge. 1837 Gould Birds Europe III. Pl. 106 Great Sedge Warbler. Ibid. Pl. 112 Rufous Sedge Warbler. |
| 1908 The Month Apr. 355 The purple red of the *sedge-willow blossoms. |
| 1839 T. C. Hofland Brit. Angler's Man. ii. (1841) 11 The *segg⁓worm. |
| 1802 Montagu Ornith. Dict. s.v. Warbler, Sedge, *Sedge-wren. 1845 Voy. Port Philip 53 The cheerful sedge wren and the bald-head friar. |
7. quasi-adj. (from attrib.) Of sedge.
nonce-use.
| 1637 Milton Lycidas 104 Next Camus, reverend Sire, went footing slow, His Mantle hairy, and his Bonnet sedge, Inwrought with figures dim. |
▪ II. † sedge, n.2 Obs. rare.
[ad. It. seggia seat, in both senses.] a. A hall of assembly.
b. A sedan chair.
| 1615 G. Sandys Trav. 258 Most of these [nobles] do live most part of the yeare in the Citie; where they haue five Sedges for the fiue assemblies of Capua, Nido, Montana, Spente and Lespente. Ibid. 259 The Sedges not unlike to horse-litters but carried by men. |
▪ III. sedge, v. dial. (
sɛdʒ)
[f. sedge n.1] intr. To be affected with
sedging.
| 1820 Farmer's Mag. XXI. 32 An experienced old farmer..replied.., ‘although I know little about oats seging, I remember well [etc.].’ 1876 Whitby Gloss. s.v., Our oats are segging. |
▪ IV. sedge var. say v.
1,
segge (man), and
siege.