Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Sedge

Sedge

,
Noun.
[OE.
segge
, AS.
secg
; akin to LG.
segge
; – probably named from its bladelike appearance, and akin to L.
secare
to cut, E.
saw
a cutting instrument; cf. Ir.
seisg
, W.
hesg
. Cf.
Hassock
,
Saw
the instrument.]
1.
(Bot.)
Any plant of the genus
Carex
, perennial, endogenous, innutritious herbs, often growing in dense tufts in marshy places. They have triangular jointless stems, a spiked inflorescence, and long grasslike leaves which are usually rough on the margins and midrib. There are several hundred species.
☞ The name is sometimes given to any other plant of the order
Cyperaceae
, which includes
Carex
,
Cyperus
,
Scirpus
, and many other genera of rushlike plants.
2.
(Zool.)
A flock of herons.
Sedge hen
(Zool.)
,
the clapper rail. See under 5th
Rail
.
Sedge warbler
(Zool.)
,
a small European singing bird (
Acrocephalus phragmitis
). It often builds its nest among reeds; – called also
sedge bird
,
sedge wren
,
night warbler
, and
Scotch nightingale
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Sedge

SEDGE

,
Noun.
[L. seco, to cut; that is sword grass, like L. gladiolus.]
1. A narrow flag, or growth of such flags; called in the north of England, seg or sag.
2. In New England, a species of very coarse grass growing in swamps, and forming bogs or clumps.

Definition 2024


sedge

sedge

English

a sedge of species Carex halleriana

Noun

sedge (plural sedges)

  1. Any plant of the genus Carex, the true sedges, perennial, endogenous herbs, often growing in dense tufts in marshy places. They have triangular jointless stems, a spiked inflorescence, and long grasslike leaves which are usually rough on the margins and midrib. There are several hundred species.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VIII”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphonya harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.
  2. Any plant of the family Cyperaceae.
  3. A flock of herons.
Derived terms

See also

Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Variant spellings.

Noun

sedge (plural sedges)

  1. Obsolete spelling of siege
  2. Alternative spelling of segge

Anagrams