ˈsword-grass
A name for several different plants with sword-shaped leaves, as the sword-lily (Gladiolus), Arenaria (Spergularia) segetalis, Melilotus segetalis or sulcata, and various grasses and sedges, as the reed canary-grass Phalaris arundinacea, Arundo conspicua of New Zealand, and Cladium psittacorum of Australia.
| 1598 Florio, Gladolo, an herbe called great Galangall or swordgrasse. 1647 Hexham i. (Herbs), Sedge, or Sword⁓grasse, Water-lisch. 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Acorus, The false Acorus is the common Sword-grass. 1749 [see b]. 1823 Blackw. Mag. XIV 190 A sort of long sword-grass that grows about marshes and the sides of lakes. 1833 Tennyson May Queen ii. vii, When..the summer airs blow cool On the oat-grass and the sword-grass, and the bulrush in the pool. 1859 Mayne Expos. Lex., Sword-grass, common name for the Phasganium. 1872 A. Domett Ranolf x. ii. 172 The great plumes far and wide of the sword-grass aspire. |
b. attrib. in collectors' names for moths of the genus Calocampa.
| 1749 B. Wilkes Eng. Moths & Butterflies 8 The Sword⁓grass moth. Mr. Rosel informs us, That the Caterpillar of this Fly feeds on the Orache;..I once took one of these Caterpillars, full grown, feeding on the Sword-grass in the Marshes at Rotherhith. 1832 J. Rennie Butterfl. & M. 65 The Sword Grass (C[alocampa] exoleta..) appears in April or May, and the middle of October. |