spire-grass
[spire n.1 Cf. spear-grass.]
† a. = spear-grass 1, spearwort 3. Obs. b. One or other of various reeds or sedges. Cf. spear-grass 2. Now dial.
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §565 Where Alleyes are close Gravelled, the Earth putteth forth, the first yeare, Knot-grasse and after Spire-grasse. 1629 Drayner Conf. (1647) A iv b, There are many watry plashes, and much rotten Spire-grasse in it. 1851 Sternberg Northampt. Dial., Spire-grass, a tall species of sedge, growing on fenny land. 1851 Meredith Flower of Ruins Poems 33 The little harebell leans On the spire-grass that it queens, With bonnet blue. |