| 释义 |
ˈsweet-grass
[See sweet a. and grass n.]
a. Any kind of grass (or herb called ‘grass’) of a sweet taste serving as fodder; spec. a book-name for the genus Glyceria; also locally, the woodruff, Asperula odorata, and the grass-wrack, Zostera marina (Britten & Holland). Also applied to a species of Heracleum: see quot. 1784.
1577Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. 45 The best hearbe for Pasture or Meddowe, is the Trefoyle or Clauer: the next is sweete Grasse. 1709T. Robinson Nat. Hist. Westmoreld. iii. 20 Bituminous Peat Earth..when burnt, limed, and manured..will produce a new Set of sweet Grass, as Clover, both white and red. 1784King Cook's Voy. Pacific III. 336 The other plant alluded to is called the sweet grass; the botanical description is Heracleum Sibericum foliis pinnatis [etc.]..In May..it was..covered with a white down, or dust,..it tasted as sweet as sugar; but was hot and pungent. 1908Animal Managem. 109 The ‘Reed Sweet grass,’ ‘Floating sweet grass’.
b. S. Afr. = sweet-veld.
1812A. Plumptre tr. Lichtenstein's Trav. S. Afr. I. ii. xv. 204 On the high hills, sweet grass grows in tolerable plenty. 1838W. B. Boyce Notes S. Afr. Affairs 186 Men should be sent from..the sweet-grass and karoo farms. 1897[see num-num]. 1913C. Pettman Africanderisms, Sweet grass, the food plants growing on rich alluvial soil.
c. N. Amer. One of several scented grasses, esp. Hierochloë odorata, used in basket-making.
1926Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 24 Jan. 20/1 From making sweet-grass baskets on the shores of the lake of Bays to singing before royalty in the Albert Hall is a far cry. 1968E. Buckler Ox Bells & Fireflies xv. 227 Her contentment grows as the sweet-grass basket fills. 1973A. H. Whiteford North Amer. Indian Arts 43 Sweet grass is widely used in coils. |