ˈsea-grape
[grape n.1]
1. The glassworts, Salicornia herbacea and Salsola Kali.
| 1578 Lyte tr. Dodoens i. lxxviii. 116 Salicornia..in English Sea grape. 1839 Baxter Brit. Phænog. Bot. IV. 307 Salicornia herbacea... Sea-grass... Sea-grape. 1855 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. IV. 288 Salsola Kali (Prickly Saltwort)..is in country places often called Sea-grape. |
† 2. The plant Ephedra distachya. Obs.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccccxliii. 958 Sea Grape is not vnlike to Horse taile. 1611 Cotgr., Raisin de mer, sea Grape. 1728 Bradley Dict. Bot. II. s.v. Polygonum, Ephedra sive Anabasis, Climbing Knot-Grass or Sea-Grape. Ibid., Polygonum bacciferum, sive Uva marina major, The great Sea-Grape. |
† 3. A fish mentioned by Pliny. Obs. rare.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. x. II. 450 Likewise the fish called the Sea-grape [L. uva] putrefied in wine, doe infuse this vertue into the foresaid wine. |
4. In W. Indies, the grape-tree or seaside grape, Coccoloba uvifera.
| 1806 T. Moore ‘I stole along the flowery bank’ i, Many a bending sea-grape drank The sprinkle of the feathery oar. 1884 Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 118 Coccoloba uvifera... Sea Grape. |
5. pl. The clustered egg-cases of the cuttle-fish and other cephalopods.
| 1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. I. 560/2 The eggs of the Cuttle⁓fish..resemble in this state a bunch of grapes, as the name ‘sea-grapes’..implies. 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side iii. 233 That singular cluster..commonly called by the fishermen Sea-grapes, is a group of the eggs of the common cuttle-fish. |
6. The gulf-weed, which has large bladders in clusters resembling grapes.
| 1825 Longfellow Sea Diver iv, They rested by the coral throne,..Where the pale sea-grape had o'ergrown The glorious dwellings made for them. 1850 Miss Pratt Comm. Things of Sea-side ii. 111 The Sea-grape is an olive-green weed, with..berries about as large as a pea. |