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Webster 1913 Edition

Meadow

Mead′ow

,
Noun.
[AS.
meady
; akin to
mǣd
, and to G.
matte
; prob. also to E.
mow
. See
Mow
to cut (grass), and cf. 2d
Mead
.]
1.
A tract of low or level land producing grass which is mown for hay; any field on which grass is grown for hay.
2.
Low land covered with coarse grass or rank herbage near rives and in marshy places by the sea;
as, the salt
meadows
near Newark Bay
.

Mead′ow

,
Adj.
Of or pertaining to a meadow; of the nature of a meadow; produced, growing, or living in, a meadow.
“Fat meadow ground.”
Milton.
☞ For many names of plants compounded with meadow, see the particular word in the Vocabulary.
Meadow beauty
.
(Bot.)
Same as
Deergrass
.
–
Meadow foxtail
(Bot.)
,
a valuable pasture grass (
Alopecurus pratensis
) resembling timothy, but with softer spikes.
–
Meadow hay
,
a coarse grass, or true sedge, growing in uncultivated swamp or river meadow; – used as fodder or bedding for cattle, packing for ice, etc.
[Local, U. S.]
–
Meadow hen
.
(Zool.)
(a)
The American bittern
. See
Stake-driver
.
(b)
The American coot (
Fulica
).
(c)
The clapper rail.
–
Meadow mouse
(Zool.)
,
any mouse of the genus
Arvicola
, as the common American species
Arvicola riparia
; – called also
field mouse
, and
field vole
.
–
Meadow mussel
(Zool.)
,
an American ribbed mussel (
Modiola plicatula
), very abundant in salt marshes.
–
Meadow ore
(Min.)
,
bog-iron ore , a kind of limonite.
–
Meadow parsnip
.
(Bot.)
See under
Parsnip
.
–
Meadow pink
.
(Bot.)
See under
Pink
.
–
Meadow pipit
(Zool.)
,
a small singing bird of the genus
Anthus
, as
Anthus pratensis
, of Europe.
–
Meadow rue
(Bot.)
,
a delicate early plant, of the genus
Thalictrum
, having compound leaves and numerous white flowers. There are many species.
–
Meadow saffron
.
(Bot.)
See under
Saffron
.
–
Meadow sage
.
(Bot.)
See under
Sage
.
–
Meadow saxifrage
(Bot.)
,
an umbelliferous plant of Europe (
Silaus pratensis
), somewhat resembling fennel.
–
Meadow snipe
(Zool.)
,
the common or jack snipe.

Webster 1828 Edition

Meadow

MEADOW

,
Noun.
med'o. A tract of low land. In America, the word is applied particularly to the low ground on the banks of rivers, consisting of a rich mold or an alluvial soil, whether grass land, pasture, tillage or wood land; as the meadows on the banks of the Connecticut. The word with us does not necessarily imply wet land. This species of land is called, in the western states, bottoms, or bottom land. The word is also used for other low or flat lands, particularly lands appropriated to the culture of grass.
The word is said to be applied in Great Britain to land somewhat watery, but covered with grass.
Meadow means pasture or grass land, annually mown for hay; but more particularly, land too moist for cattle to graze on in winter, without spoiling the sward.
[Mead is used chiefly in poetry.]

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