sea-wrack
Forms: see wrack.
1. pl. Property cast ashore by the sea. Obs.
| 1548 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 61/1 Terras de Terbert, cum manerio, molendino et lie sey-wrakis earundem. |
2. a. collect. Seaweed, esp. any of the large coarse kinds cast up on the shore, as Fucus, Laminaria, etc. Sometimes applied spec. to Zostera marina.
| 1551 Turner Herbal i. K iv, Alga..is commonly called in englyshe see wrak. 1654 in N. Riding Rec. V. 161 [Indicted for unjustly taking 10 horse load of sea-wreck]. 1759 Martin Nat. Hist. II. Yorksh. 298 They gather up the Sea-wreck and lay it in Heaps. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. ii, Wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to his utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true orients. 1906 F. Campbell Dearlove 29 A litter of brown sea-wrack. |
b. A particular kind of seaweed.
| 1611 Cotgr., Spariée, a sea-wrecke. Ibid., Varech, a sea-wracke, or wrecke. 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, The Spongy leaves of some Sea-wracks..are over-wrought with Net-work. 1681 Grew Musæum ii. §v. ii. 248 The Bearded Sea-Wrack. Fucus capillaris tinctorius. 1846 Lindley Veget. Kingd. 145 Zosteraceæ.—Sea wracks. 1852 Th. Ross tr. Humboldt's Trav. I. i. 33 To rank it provisionally among the sea-wracks. |
c. attrib. sea-wrack grass, Zostera marina.
| 1829 Loudon Encycl. Plants 8 Zostera. Sea Wrackgrass. 1840 Paxton Bot. Dict. 1861 Bentley Man. Bot. 691 Zosteraceæ, the Sea-wrack Order. |