/ˈmɑːkɪeɪ/, U.S. /ˈmɑkieɪ/.macchian.
/ˈmɑːkɪə/, U.S. /ˈmɑkiə//ˈmɑːkɪeɪ/, U.S. /ˈmɑkieɪ/. = maquis n. 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > by growth or development > defined by habit > tree or woody plant > wood or assemblage of trees or shrubs > [noun] > characteristic of particular habitat or period
maquis1829
motte1844
amber forest1846
caatinga1846
native bush1853
chena1877
monsoon forest1903
rainforest1903
tropical rainforest1903
padang1909
cloud forest1922
macchia1924
1819 E. Rigby tr. J. F. L. de Chateauvieux Italy vii. 88 The Italians designate these wild grounds, which are in part wood and in part pasture, by the term macchie.
1868 J. A. Symonds Let. 4 May (1967) I. 805 The sea shore [of Corsica]..is a tangle of sweet & splendid flowers... The whole air is fragrant with multitudinous scents wafted from these ‘macchi’, as the natives call them.]
1924 A. Huxley Let. 3 Dec. (1969) 238 The mountain is covered with woods of cork trees and a kind of macchia or bush of fragrant shrubs.
1936 Nature 2 May 735/2 Such characteristic native vegetation as the beautiful ‘fijnbos’ (the macchia or maquis of the south-west Cape) may be irretrievably damaged by fire.
1962 Times 24 Mar. 11/4 A cottage lost in the macchia.
1969 V. Nabokov Ada i. xxxix. 273 You were to die very soon—and not..on the turf of a Crimean ravine, but a couple of minutes later, when you..felt relieved and secure in the shelter of the macchie.
1976 A. Brink Instant in Wind 114 It is indispensable for hacking a path through the myriad of thin, tough macchia stems.
1988 N.Y. Times 8 May v. 19/3 Punta Ala..has manicured golf courses..where once there was wild fennel and macchia (Mediterranean scrub).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1924