meadown.
/ˈmɛdəʊ/, U.S. /ˈmɛdoʊ/ 1.
a. A piece of land permanently covered with grass to be mown for use as hay; (gen.) a grassy field or other area of grassland, esp. one used for pasture. Also (regional): a tract of low well-watered ground, esp. near a river (cf. water meadow n.).
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the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > grassland > [noun] > meadow land
leasowc950
leasea1000
meadOE
meadowOE
meadowlandOE
mead ground1453
meadow ground1523
meading1560
meadowing1560
land-mead1577
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > grassland > [noun] > meadow land > meadow
meadOE
meadowOE
meadlOE
plainc1330
praiere?c1335
meadow?a1400
sike1479
preea1625
sitch1842
smooth1845
OE Charter: Bp. Oswald to Wulfgar (Sawyer 1327) in D. Hooke Worcs. Anglo-Saxon Charter-bounds (1990) 282 xii æcreas on west healfe þære stræte & an medwa beneoðan þæm hliþe.
lOE Bounds (Sawyer 1554) in J. M. Kemble Codex Diplomaticus (1845) III. 165 And swa betweonan ðære mædwan and Pæuintune in ðære portstræt.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 1942 Medewen [c1300 Otho medewes] heo meowen.
c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) 4817 Meduwen and mores.
c1300 St. Patrick's Purgatory (Laud) 491 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 214 (MED) A fair Medwe he saiȝ with swete floures.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 5964 (MED) Nature..Wole..With herbes and with floures bothe The feldes and the medwes clothe.
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 4573 In þat medu sa lang þai war Þat etten þai had it erthe bare.
c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 1761 (MED) Þe myst dryves Þorȝ þe lyst of þe lyfte, bi þe loȝ medoes.
?a1425 Mandeville's Trav. (Egerton) (1889) 148 All þe tymes of þe ȝere er..þaire mydews grene.
a1450 Generides (Pierpont Morgan) (1865) 5653 Comen was the king..And armed in the middow rode.
1463 in S. Tymms Wills & Inventories Bury St. Edmunds (1850) 34 The medwe at Babwelle.
1488 Act 4 Hen. VII c. 15 §2 Divers pastures and medues.
a1500 (?c1400) Song of Roland (1880) 306 Amonge medos and moris & euyll bankis.
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. AAiii The dayes of this worlde be but transytorie, as the flour of the medowe.
1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. B viij Althea..groweth naturally in watery & marrish myddoes.
1560 J. Daus tr. J. Sleidane Commentaries f. ccxx Beyng brought foorthe into a meddowe and stripped naked, they were slayne eche one.
1589 in G. P. McNeill Exchequer Rolls Scotl. (1903) XXII. 26 The landis of the Kingis medo besyde Edinburgh.
1594 W. Shakespeare Titus Andronicus iii. i. 125 Looking all downewards to behold our cheekes, How they are staind like meadowes yet not drie, With mierie slime left on them by a flood. View more context for this quotation
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler ii. 40 Look down at the bottom of the hil, there in that Meadow, chequered with water Lillies and Lady-smocks. View more context for this quotation
a1657 W. Mure Misc. Poems in Wks. (1898) 4 A blooming meadou.
1717 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 29 May (1965) I. 361 The rest of our Journey was through fine painted Meadows.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 139 Purple Melic... Boggy barren meadow and pastures.
1830 J. Baxter Libr. Agric. & Hort. Knowl. 246 The proper grasses which constitute the produce of the richest permanent pastures and meadows.
1889 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (ed. 2) Stinting, a portion of the common meadow set apart for the use of one person.
1935 G. Santayana Last Puritan iii. v. 337 The most beautiful meadows, through which a green path slightly meandered between great patches of buttercups and daisies.
1986 Z. Tomin Stalin's Shoe iii. 32 I want you to know how good it is to walk across the meadow.
b. Land used as a meadow or meadows.
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the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > grassland > [noun] > meadow land > meadow
meadOE
meadowOE
meadlOE
plainc1330
praiere?c1335
meadow?a1400
sike1479
preea1625
sitch1842
smooth1845
?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) ii. 75 (MED) Alle mad he wasteyn, pastur, medow, & korn.
1427 in H. M. Flasdieck Mittelengl. Originalurkunden (1926) 68 (MED) Thre acres of medewe yn the town of Sawtre.
1475 in C. T. Clay Yorks. Deeds (1930) 141 (MED) vij acre of medow.
1532 in J. W. Clay Testamenta Eboracensia (1902) VI. 31 16 acres of meadow in Kellome.
1636 in D. G. Hill Dedham (Mass.) Rec. (1892) III. 21 He shall haue for a Fearme..soe much medowe & vpland as shalbe sufficient.
1657 in J. A. Giles Hist. Bampton (1848) Suppl. 3 (modernized text) Within these two meadows are several Hams of meadow.
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 204 It is perhaps more proper to name all land, from which hay is taken, meadow.
1837 J. R. McCulloch Statist. Acct. Brit. Empire I. i. i. 202 500,000 [acres] are arable, meadow, and pasture.
1895 E. Bateson Hist. Northumberland II. 424 These husbandlands or farms contained on an average 31½ acres of arable land, 3 acres of meadow, and 4 acres of pasture.
1910 Encycl. Brit. I. 389/2 The territory of the ‘township’ [in England before the year 1800] consisted of arable land, meadow, pasture and waste.
c. Hay mown from a meadow; = meadow hay n. at Compounds 4. rare.
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the world > food and drink > food > animal food > [noun] > fodder > hay or straw
hayc825
strawc1000
pease-strawa1325
bean-strawc1386
hard meat1481
quitch?1523
meadow1557
pease-bolt1573
salt hay1648
stover1669
barley-straw1678
marsh hay1728
pea straw1735
chaff1772
long forage1794
bog-hay1799
bhusa1829
peavine hay1846
tibbin1900
slough hay1934
1557 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandrie sig. C.iiiv Set mowers a worke, while the meddowes [1573 meadow] be growne.
1789 Suffolk Inventory in Notes & Queries (1947) 27 Dec. 559/2 2 parcles of meadow aboute 30 tons.
1874 in Rec. Town of Brookhaven (1880) II. 596 Ordered that the strands on the North and South sides of the Town and the meadow, thatch or grass on the same which still belong to the Town in Common, be let to the highest bidder for the benefit of all the people.
1940 New York: Guide to Empire State (Federal Writers' Project) 631 The rich bottom lands grow heavy with meadow, wheat, and corn, potatoes, [etc.].
d. figurative and in extended use.
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1608 G. Wilkins Painfull Adventures Pericles iv. sig. C3 His ioyfull Marriners..cut an easie passage on the greene medowes of the flouds.
1653 Duchess of Newcastle Poems & Fancies 144 Fresh Meadow of green Youth did pleasant seem, Innocency, as Cowslips, grew therein.
1780 R. B. Sheridan School for Scandal i. i. 8 When you shall see them on a beautiful quarto type, where a neat rivulet of text shall murmur through a meadow of margin.
1844 R. W. Emerson Ess. 2nd Ser. i. 23 He knows why the plain, or meadow of space, was strown with these flowers we call suns, and moons, and stars.
1935 H. Heslop Last Cage Down i. xiii. 119 ‘Man! I've seen the day,’ he ejaculated, and then he paused to dwell in the rich meadows of his memory.
1962 R. Bradbury R is for Rocket 13 I didn't even suck another breath it seemed until the rocket was way out on the concrete meadow.
a1992 E. Merriam Embracing Dark (1995) ii. 36 Your cheeks and the grassy beard covering the meadow of your chin.
2. Chiefly North American. A tract of uncultivated grassland, esp. a low-level one along a river or in a marshy region near the sea; (also) a tract of uncultivated upland pasture.
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the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > [noun] > level
flat1550
meadow1563
marsh1662
1563 J. Ribaut Whole & True Discov. Terra Florida sig. C2 The channell & depth of this Riuer of Seyne, is on the side of the medow that is in the Ile of May.
1587 R. Hakluyt tr. R. de Laudonnière Notable Hist. Foure Voy. Florida 30 The medowes were at that season all greene, and halfe couered ouer with water.
1602 J. Brereton Briefe Relation Discouerie Virginia 8 We stood a while like men rauished at the beautie and delicacie of this sweet soile; for besides diuers cleere Lakes of fresh water..Medowes very large and full of greene grasse.
1670 D. Denton Brief Descr. N.-Y. 13 After-skull River puts into the main Land on the West-side... There is very great Marshes or Medows on both sides of it, excellent good Land.
1778 T. Hutchins Topogr. Descr. Virginia 14 On the North-west and South-east sides of the Ohio..are extensive natural meadows, or Savannahs.
1779 D. Livermore in New Hampsh. Hist. Soc. Coll. (1850) VI. 316 The intervale or meadow extends four miles from the banks of the river.
1881 E. H. Elwell in Coll. Maine Hist. Soc. (1887) IX. 214 It was the fertility of these meadows which attracted the adventurers of a century ago.
1951 R. P. Hobson Grass beyond Mountains 31 A top bush cowboy, he built a new ranch every two years, then always found another meadow bigger than his present one, and moved again.
1993 Equinox Oct. 22/1 The mountain—its alpine meadows, lodgepole forests, prairie openings..—had been placed on the altar of development.
3.
a. North American (chiefly Newfoundland). An area of sea ice on which seals haul out in large numbers. rare.
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1694 Acct. Several Late Voy. (1711) ii. 40 Ice-fields, that are as the Meadows for the Seales.]
1850 De Bow's Rev. Nov. 547 The vessels then proceed to the field-ice, pushing their way through the openings, or working to windward of it, until they meet it covered with vast herds of seal. Where these occur, the part on which they are is called ‘seal-meadows’.
1889 Littell's Living Age 27 Apr. 228/2 The meadows or patches of hoods and harps are never seen on the same floes.
b. An area of sea rich in seaweed or small marine organisms, esp. providing a feeding ground for whales or fish.
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1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lviii. 305 Steering north-eastward from the Crozetts, we fell in with vast meadows of brit, the minute, yellow substance, upon which the Right Whale largely feeds.
1870 Nature 20 Jan. 315/2 In the middle of the Atlantic there is a marine meadow, the Sargasso Sea.
1879 tr. K. Dambeck Geogr. Distribution Gadidæ in Rep. Commissioner 1877 (U.S. Comm. Fish & Fisheries) V. 541 The ‘fishing grounds’, ‘cod-meadows’, have an extent of about 200 geographical miles in length, and 67 miles in breadth.
1967 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. 5 489 The whole population of the Posidonia meadows..cannot be considered as a single biocoenotic unit or entity.
1993 N.Y. Times Mag. 30 May 24/1 They have tracked the surface by means of satellites equipped with sophisticated sensors, mapping the spread of large assemblages of organisms, from forests, grasslands and tundras to coral reefs and the vast planktonic meadows of the sea.
Compounds
C1. General attributive.† meadow-swell n. Obsolete rare† meadow-verse n. Obsolete rare
meadow-base n.
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1832 Ld. Tennyson Palace of Art ii, in Poems (new ed.) 70 A huge crag-platform,..whose rangèd ramparts bright From great broad meadowbases of deep grass Suddenly scaled the light.
meadow-close n.
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1547 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories Archdeaconry Richmond (1853) 65 I wyl my fermhold in Cowton to my wyffe..and a medow close next adyonynge to Cowton feilde.
1815 R. Polwhele Fair Isabel 4 The eye wanders o'er a scene..Till in some little meadow-close With vagrance tir'd it seeks repose.
1847 J. G. Whittier Drovers in Poet. Wks. (1894) 306 They leap some farmer's broken pale, O'er meadow-close or fallow.
meadow-croft n.
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1642 in Rothesay Town Council Rec. (1935) I. 955 His medow croaft and medow.
1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair ii. lxvi. 49 Anon uprises..On the green loan and meadow-crofts around, A town of tents.
meadow-down n.
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1877 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 71 Meadow-down is not distressed For a rainbow footing it.
meadow-farmer n.
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1742 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman June xi. 109 There are two Sorts of Farmers, who carry on this Business..viz. the Grass, or Meadow-farmer, and the Plough-farmer.
1884 R. Jefferies Life of Fields 139 The meadow-farmers, dairymen, have not grubbed many hedges.
meadow-field n.
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1822 J. Wilson Lights & Shadows Sc. Life 37 Dancing all day like a butterfly in a meadow-field.
1907 A. B. Thompson Harvest of Thoughts 2 I view them o'er and over, The meadow-fields of clover.
meadow flower n.
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1492 J. Ryman Poems lxxxiv, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1892) 89 253 As medowe floures of swete odoures.
1798 W. Render tr. A. von Kotzebue Count Benyowsky ii. 55 On a barren heath even the little meadow flower can please.
1842 W. Wordsworth Poems 215 How does the Meadow-flower its bloom unfold?
1945 Ecol. Monogr. 15 222/1 Two abundant insects in sweep and other collections from wet meadow flowers and similar vegetation were undetermined lanternfly nymphs..and the lady-bird beetle.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 373/2 Oxeye daisy..is one of the first meadow flowers to colonise unsprayed grassland.
meadow gale n.
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1798 S. T. Coleridge Anc. Marinere vi, in W. Wordsworth & S. T. Coleridge Lyrical Ballads 38 It fann'd my cheek, Like a meadow-gale of spring.
1830 J. G. Whittier in Essex (Salem, Mass.) Gaz. 15 May 2/2 The stranger's voice was not like ours..'twas like the yellow flowers, Which tremble in the meadow gale.
meadow lot n.
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1637 in Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1877) II. 21 It is agreed that Mr. Atherton Haulgh shall have..the rest of Bretheren's meadow Lotte there.
1754 in K. A. Pritchard Waterbury (Connecticut) Proprietors' Rec. (1911) 186 To Settle the bounds of the Meadow Lots.
1884 Harper's Mag. Feb. 413/2 I am very much in love with—the meadow lot.
meadow-man n.
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1401–2 in H. C. Maxwell-Lyte Inquisitions & Assessm. Feudal Aids (1908) V. 100 (MED) Roberti Medeweman.
1880 World 29 Sept. 15 The farmers and meadow-men seem to entertain no objection to people wandering..amongst the mowing-grass.
meadow plot n.
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c1565 T. C. tr. G. Boccaccio Galesvs Cymon & Iphigenia 4 Foote by foote, he passed through, a litle Meadow Plotte.
1601 R. Chester Loves Martyr 81 Looke round about, behold yon fruitfull Plaine, Behold their meadow plots and pasture ground.
1928 T. Olson Stranger & Afraid 19 So much he wrested from this miser land: A meadow plot, a square of furrowed loam.
1996 Ecology 77 1197 The study area at Evanstad field station, southeastern Norway, consist of seven 100 × 50 m flat, homogeneous meadow plots, allowing the simultaneous study of seven separate populations.
meadow-road n.
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1839 Southern Literary Messenger 5 35 The drive from Barrington to Sheffield is along a meadow road, and for the most part on the margin of the Housatonick.
1875 L. Larcom Idyl of Work viii. 108 She watched The two girls wandering down the meadow-road, One golden morning.
1879 ‘G. Eliot’ College Breakfast Party in Macmillan's Mag. July 179 Watched with half-closed eyes The meadow-road.
meadow-side n.
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1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. xcviii. 119 They lay alonge by a fayre medowe syde, and made a great dyke about their host.
1854 J. T. Fields Poems 16 Take me to the meadow-side. Bear me to the willow brook; Let me hear the merry mill.
1962 MLN 77 71 He..appears along riding, or less often walking, by a wood or along a meadow side.
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1835 R. Browning Paracelsus v. 179 The gulf rolls like a meadow-swell, o'erstrewn With ravaged boughs.
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1648 R. Herrick Hesperides sig. Mv Herrick shall make the meddow-verse for you.
meadow watering n.
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1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. i. 21 ‘Meadow-watering’..acts not only by supplying useful moisture to the grass; but [etc.].
1854 Amer. Farmer's New & Universal Handbk. 40 Meadow Watering.—The above diagram represents a watered meadow.
C2. In the names of animals which inhabit meadowland.† meadow crake n. Obsolete the corncrake, Crex crex.† meadow crane fly n. Obsolete a large crane fly, esp. the common Tipula oleracea.† meadow drake n. Obsolete rare the corncrake, Crex crex.† meadow-fly n. U.S. Obsolete rare a firefly (family Lampyridae).† meadow gallinule n. Obsolete rare the corncrake, Crex crex.† meadow rat n. Obsolete rare the field vole, Microtus agrestis.† meadow titling n. Obsolete rare = meadow pipit n.† meadow worm n. Obsolete the common earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris.
meadow ant n. either of two European ants, the small Lasius flavus (in full yellow meadow ant) and the large Formica pratensis.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > member of genus Lasias
turf-ant1816
meadow ant1879
1879 J. Lubbock Sci. Lect. iv. 136 The yellow meadow-ant keeps the underground kinds [of Aphides].
1932 E. Step Bees, Wasps, Ants & Allied Insects 164 The Meadow Ant (Formica pratensis)..may be mistaken for the Wood Ant owing to its general similarity.
1987 Field Stud. 6 617 The yellow meadow ant (Lasius flavus) has a mainly southern distribution in Britain.
meadow bird n. U.S. the bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus; cf. meadow-wink n.
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1844 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. ii. 144 The Boblink..is known in others [sc. states] by the various names of Reed-bird, May-bird, Meadow-bird [etc.].
1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. II. 241/1 Bobolink... [Also called] Meadow-bird.
1995 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 27 May j3 In various regions of the continent it was called reed bird, rice bird.., meadow-bird and American ortolan.
meadow brown n. (more fully meadow brown butterfly) a common Eurasian satyrid butterfly, Maniola jurtina, which has brown and orange wings marked with small eyespots.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Rhopalocera (butterflies) > [noun] > family Satyridae > genus Maniola > maniola jurtina (meadow brown)
meadow brown butterfly1720
1720 E. Albin Nat. Hist. Eng. Insects 53 On the 11th of June came the Meadow Brown Butterfly.
1819 G. Samouelle Entomologist's Compend. 396 Meadow brown butterfly, Hipparchia Janira.
1930 Times Educ. Suppl. 4 Oct. p. iv/4 The meadow-brown's heavy, indolent flight.
1974 Lady 1 Aug. 169/1 Butterflies abound..from the innumerable brown ringlets, ‘gate-keepers’, speckled woods and meadow browns, to various beauties like the common blues.
1993 Daily Tel. 28 Aug. (Weekend Suppl.) 5/1 Meadow browns—normally the most abundant..butterflies—are few, as are wall browns and gatekeepers.
meadow chicken n. U.S. any of several North American rails, spec. the sora, Porzana carolina.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > rail or coot
meadow hena1841
meadow chicken1888
1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits Birds 132 At East Haddam, Conn., it [sc. Porzana carolina] is the Meadow Chicken.
1893 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. II 539 Meadow-chicken and Meadow-hen, names given in North America to more than one species of Rail or Coot.
1938 H. C. Oberholser Bird Life Louisiana 203 The well known Sora, or as it is sometimes called, ‘Carolina Rail’, or ‘meadow chicken’, is a rather small bird, easily distinguished from its relatives by its black throat.
meadow clapper n. U.S. (now rare) the clapper rail, Rallus longirostris.
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1799 B. S. Barton Fragments Nat. Hist. Pennsylvania 5 Clapper-Rail, (Meadow-clapper?).
1890 Cent. Dict. Meadow-clapper.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > crex crex (corn-crake)
raila1450
quail?a1500
corncrakea1525
daker-hen1552
craker1698
corn-craker1703
landrail1766
crake1793
rye-crake1807
grass-drake1826
corn-rail1830
meadow crake1833
meadow gallinule1843
1833 P. J. Selby Illustr. Brit. Ornithol. II. 177 The Meadow Crake..affecting rich meadows [etc.].
1847 Ld. Tennyson Princess iv. 71 Marsh-divers..Shall croak thee sister, or the meadow-crake Grate her harsh kindred in the grass.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Nematocera > family Tipulidae > member of (crane-fly)
crane-fly1658
harry-long-legs1676
tailor1682
long legs1721
father-long-legs1742
Tipula1752
tommy-long-legs1800
Tom Tailor1800
meadow crane fly1813
jenny-spinner1817
daddy-long-legs1829
spinner-fly1848
granddaddy-long-legs1858
tipulid1893
1813 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. (ed. 4) III. 310 The Meadow Crane-fly, or Long-legs.
1853 H. Stephens Farmer's Guide I. 583/2 The oat-crop, when very young,..is subject to a very severe attack of the grub or larva of..the Tipula oleracea, Meadow-crane-fly, attacking its roots.
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1890 Cent. Dict. Meadow-drake.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Diversicornia > family Lampyridae > member of (fire-fly)
fireworm1567
firefly1655
salamander-fly1668
lightning bug1778
firebug1789
glow-fly1789
lampyrine1842
lightning beetle1854
Photuris1858
meadow-fly1867
lampyrid1895
peeny-wally1961
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Diversicornia > family Elateridae > elaterid fire-fly
fireworm1567
cucuy1605
salamander-fly1668
lightning bug1778
firebug1789
glow-fly1789
fire beetle1826
lightning beetle1854
meadow-fly1867
pyrophore1884
1867 R. W. Emerson Lett. & Social Aims (1875) vii. 180 Fresh and delicate as the bonfires of the meadow-flies.
meadow frog n. a North American leopard frog, esp. Rana pipiens.
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1892 Cent. Mag. Mar. 753/2 Consider the tenuous voices of minnesingers far and near, whose music rises like the chirping of locusts by noonday and of meadow-frogs at night.
1921 A. H. Wright Frogs in Rep. U.S. Comm. Fisheries 1919 App. vi. 10 The leopard or meadow frog.., the most widespread and most common form of North America, has all the under parts white.
1991 R. Conant & J. T. Collins Field Guide Reptiles & Amphibians (ed. 3) 343 Northern Leopard Frog. Rana pipiens... This is the ‘meadow frog,’ at least in the summertime, a name earned by its wanderings well away from water.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > crex crex (corn-crake)
raila1450
quail?a1500
corncrakea1525
daker-hen1552
craker1698
corn-craker1703
landrail1766
crake1793
rye-crake1807
grass-drake1826
corn-rail1830
meadow crake1833
meadow gallinule1843
1843 W. Yarrell Hist. Brit. Birds I. p. xxiii Meadow Gallinule.
meadow hen n. North American (a) the American bittern, Botaurus lentiginosus; (b) any of several North American rails.
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the world > animals > birds > order Gruiformes > [noun] > family Rallidae (rail) > rail or coot
meadow hena1841
meadow chicken1888
a1841 ‘J. Cypress, Jr.’ Sporting Scenes (1842) I. 18 The principal inhabitants are gulls, and meadow-hens.
1863 ‘G. Hamilton’ Gala-days 97 You know you didn't scare a little meadow-hen.
1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 204/1 Clapper Rail... [Also called] Meadow Hen.
1946 L. A. Hausman Field Bk. Eastern Birds 110 American Bittern... Other names... Indian Hen, Meadow Hen.
1955 Bull. Mass. Audubon Soc. 39 443 Virginia Rail... Meadow Hen, Mud Hen (Maine, Mass.)... Sora... Meadow Hen (Maine, Mass.)... Florida Gallinule... Meadow Hen (Mass., Conn.).
meadowlark n. (a) = meadow pipit n.; (b) North American any of several ground-dwelling American songbirds of the genus Sturnella (family Icteridae), with a brown streaky back and often yellow and black underparts; esp. the eastern S. magna or the western S. neglecta.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Motacillidae > genus Anthus > anthus pratensis (titlark)
titlingc1550
linget1552
lark1602
chit1610
meadowlark1611
cucknel1655
titlark1666
cheeper1684
moss-cheeper1684
old-field lark1805
ling-bird1814
tit-pipit1817
meadow pipit1825
meadow titling1828
furze-lark1854
peep1859
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Icteridae > [noun] > genus Sturnella (meadow-lark)
marsh quail1750
meadowlark1775
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Alouette de pré, the chit, or small meddow-larke.
1775 B. Romans Conc. Nat. Hist. E. & W. Florida 114 Meadow larks, fieldfares, rice birds, &c. are very frequently had.
1863 H. W. Longfellow Poet's Tale xviii, in Tales Wayside Inn 198 Is this more pleasant to you than the whirr Of meadow-lark, and its sweet roundelay?
1893 A. Newton et al. Dict. Birds: Pt. II 512 The Meadow-Lark of America..is an Icterus.
1948 H. A. Jacobs We chose Country 161 Birds were everywhere, first killdeers, making a din in the fields at dusk, then meadowlarks, caroling in the morning sun.
1969 N. W. Parsons Upon Sagebrush Harp viii. 42 There were many birds, but the meadowlark moved me most.
1989 New Yorker 27 Mar. 75/3 I lay on my back..staring at fluffy clouds and listening to meadowlarks.
meadow mouse n. = meadow vole n.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Microtus > microtus agrestis (field vole)
meadow rat1781
meadow mouse1801
vole1805
field vole1828
campagnol1835
meadow vole1840
1801 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. II. i. 81 Meadow Mouse.
1857 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1856: Agric. 84 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (34th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. 65, Pt. 4) XVI Of Meadow-mice we have many species.
1936 D. McCowan Animals Canad. Rockies viii. 72 Meadow mice have all outdoors for their domain.
1992 Beaver (Winnipeg) Aug. 6/2 Rover or Shep was also usually much in evidence, nosing for meadow mice around the upended haycocks.
meadow mussel n. U.S. rare a mussel, Geukensia demissa (family Mytilidae), found in salt meadows (marshes) of eastern North America.
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1881 E. Ingersoll Oyster-industry (10th Census U.S.: Bureau of Fisheries) 245 Meadow mussel.—In Great South Bay, Long Island, the Mytilus plicatula which grows on the tide-flats.
meadow oxeye n. U.S. the least sandpiper, Calidris minutilla.
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1904 I. G. Wheelock Birds Calif. 65 Least sandpiper, or meadow oxeye.
1904 I. G. Wheelock Birds Calif. 66 Their frequenting the meadows in the vicinity of water and hiding in the long grass has given them the name of ‘Meadow Oxeye’.
1932 A. H. Howell Florida Bird Life 240 Least Sandpiper... Meadow Oxeye.
1956 Bull. Mass. Audubon Soc. 40 19 Last Sandpiper..Meadow Oxeye... Latter term from the full, round eye.
meadow pipit n. a common streaky brown pipit, Anthus pratensis, found on open country from Europe to Iran.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Motacillidae > genus Anthus > anthus pratensis (titlark)
titlingc1550
linget1552
lark1602
chit1610
meadowlark1611
cucknel1655
titlark1666
cheeper1684
moss-cheeper1684
old-field lark1805
ling-bird1814
tit-pipit1817
meadow pipit1825
meadow titling1828
furze-lark1854
peep1859
1825 P. J. Selby Illustr. Brit. Ornithol.: Pt. 1st 216 Meadow Pipit or Tit.
1911 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 635/2 The best known species of pipit is the titlark or meadow-pipit,..abundant on pastures, moors, and uncultivated districts generally.
1950 A. W. Boyd Coward's Birds Brit. Isles (rev. ed.) 1st Ser. 113 Though a regular migrant and an abundant summer visitor the Meadow-Pipit..is also a resident.
1991 Times 15 July 16/1 The adults soar in wide circles over the heather and bilberries, looking for rabbits or meadow pipits.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Microtus > microtus agrestis (field vole)
meadow rat1781
meadow mouse1801
vole1805
field vole1828
campagnol1835
meadow vole1840
1781 T. Pennant Hist. Quadrupeds II. 460 Meadow [Rat]. Mus agrestis.
meadow snipe n. U.S. (a) the common snipe, Gallinago gallinago; (b) the pectoral sandpiper, Calidris melanotos.
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1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina 294 S[colopax] minor arvensis, the meadow snipe.
1799 B. S. Barton Fragments Nat. Hist. Pennsylvania 2 Spring and summer birds of passage... Little Wood-cock. (Meadow-snipe.)
1844 J. P. Giraud Birds Long Island 235 To some of the residents of the island it is known by the name of ‘Meadow Snipe’.
1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 233/1 Pectoral Sandpiper... [Also called] Jack Snipe; Grass-bird; Meadow Snipe.
1955 E. H. Forbush & J. R. May Nat. Hist. Amer. Birds 195 Marsh-plover..Meadow Snipe.
meadow starling n. U.S. the eastern meadowlark, Sturnella magna.
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1839 J. J. Audubon Synopsis Birds N. Amer. 148 Sturnella... Meadow-Starling.
1917 Wilson Bull. 29 83 Sturnella magna.—Meadow starling, marsh quail.
1927 E. H. Forbush Birds of Mass. II. 436 The Meadowlark is not a lark; it is a meadow starling... Our Meadow Starling in New England is rather a shy bird.
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the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Motacillidae > genus Anthus > anthus pratensis (titlark)
titlingc1550
linget1552
lark1602
chit1610
meadowlark1611
cucknel1655
titlark1666
cheeper1684
moss-cheeper1684
old-field lark1805
ling-bird1814
tit-pipit1817
meadow pipit1825
meadow titling1828
furze-lark1854
peep1859
1828 J. Fleming Hist. Brit. Animals 75 A[nthus] pratensis. Meadow Titling.
meadow vole n. any of various burrowing voles of the genus Microtus, found in grassland and open country in Eurasia and North America; spec. the North American M. pennsylvanicus.
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the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Microtidae > genus Microtus > microtus agrestis (field vole)
meadow rat1781
meadow mouse1801
vole1805
field vole1828
campagnol1835
meadow vole1840
1840 E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 114 Meadow Vole..Size of a Mouse, reddish ash-colour.
1863 C. St. John Nat. Hist. Moray Index Arvicola riparia. Meadow vole.
1946 Nature 28 Dec. 928/2 The grass-eating, short-tailed, or meadow vole.
1989 New Scientist 11 Mar. 36/1 Meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) are polygynous while prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) are monogamous.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Annelida > [noun] > class Chaetopoda > order Oligochaeta > family Lumbricidae > member of genus Lumbricus
worma1100
roundworm1558
meadow worm1653
lumbricus1808
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler viii. 169 The Carp bites either at wormes, or at Paste; and of worms I think the blewish Marsh or Meadow worm is best. View more context for this quotation
1787 T. Best Conc. Treat. Angling i. iii. 13 Marsh, or Meadow-worm..are a little blueish.
C3. In the names of plants, denoting kinds or species growing in meadows.† meadow gowan n. Scottish Obsolete the marsh marigold, Caltha palustris.† meadow rhubarb n. Obsolete rare = meadow rue n. (cf. bastard rhubarb n. at bastard n., adj., and adv. Compounds 2).
meadow barley n. (more fully meadow barley grass) a tall, erect, coarse perennial grass, Hordeum secalinum, which grows in moist, lowland meadows in many parts of the northern hemisphere.
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1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xiii. 150 Wall Barley grass is very common by way-sides and under walls: and Meadow Barley grass, which is very like it, only that it has a longer stalk and a shorter spike, is found in moist meadows.
1858 A. Irvine Illustr. Handbk. Brit. Plants 236 Meadow Barley... In rather moist meadows and pastures.
1937 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses (ed. 3) vii. 127 The old common English name for this plant [sc. Horderum murinum, Wall Barley-grass] was Rie-grass, a name that was applied to Meadow Barley-grass as well.
1996 San Francisco Examiner (Nexis) 6 Dec. a17 The restoration work will include weeding and seeding, aimed at bringing back native vegetation, which includes purple needle grass, meadow barley and lupine, to a 26-acre parcel.
meadow beauty n. any of several North American plants of the genus Rhexia (family Melastomataceae), with four-petalled pink flowers, esp. R. virginica.
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1818 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 2) ii. 398 Rhexia..virginica..meadow beauty, deer grass.
1840 C. Dewey Rep. Herbaceous Flowering Plants Mass. 51 Rhexia, Brown..R. Virginica..Deer Grass, Meadow Beauty,..flowers in July, and grows in wet meadows.
1939 Kentucky: Guide to Bluegrass State (Federal Writers' Project) 18 Tall purple composites, the ironweed and meadow beauty (deer grass), grace the open woodlands.
1968 R. T. Peterson & M. McKenny Field Guide Wildflowers Northeastern & North-central N. Amer. 220 Maryland meadow-beauty. Rhexia mariana... Wet sands, pine barrens.
meadow-bell n. poetic (perhaps) the harebell, Campanula rotundifolia (in quots. imagined as producing bell-like music).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > bellflowers
bell-flower1578
bluebell1578
Canterbury bells1578
Coventry bells1578
Coventry Marians1578
Coventry rapes1578
fair-in-sight1578
gauntlet1578
haskwort1578
Marian's violet1578
throatwort1578
lady's looking glass1597
mariet1597
Mercury's violet1597
peach-bells1597
steeple bells1597
uvula-wort1597
Venus looking-glass1597
campanula1664
Spanish bell1664
corn-violet1665
rampion1688
Venus' glass1728
harebell1767
heath-bell1805
witch bell1808
slipperwort1813
meadow-bell1827
greygle1844
platycodon1844
lady's thimble1853
kikyo1884
witches' bells1884
balloon flower1901
fairy thimble1914
mountain bell1923
1827 G. Darley Sylvia 136 Like soft winds jangling meadow-bells.
1869 Littell's Living Age 9 Oct. 93/1 The lingering harmony in Ocean's shells, The fairy music of the meadow bells.
meadow bouts n. (also meadow bout) [compare boots n.2] now British regional the marsh marigold, Caltha palustris.
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1785 M. Cutler in Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Sci. 1 459 Meadow-bouts. Cowslips. Marsh Marigold.
1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 172/1 Caltha palustris, ‘Boots’, Common Marsh-Marigold,..Meadow Bright, or Meadow Bout, [etc.].
1886 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester 222 Meadow bout, the marsh marigold.
meadow buttercup n. (a) a Eurasian buttercup, Ranunculus acris, common in meadows and damper grassland; (b) U.S. the marsh marigold, Caltha palustris.
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1854 S. T. Dobell Balder i. iii. 23 The lamb..Sleeps in the meadow buttercups at noon, A babe a-slumber in a golden crib.
1893 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 6 136 Caltha palustris, meadow buttercup.
1917 W. Graveson Brit. Wild Flowers vii. 55 The Meadow Buttercup is a more stately plant; it grows two to three feet high, with leaves spread out like the palm of the hand.
1985 S. R. J. Woodell in R. Fitter Wildlife Thames Counties iii. 38 The dominant species [in nutrient-poor dry meadows] include crested dogstail Cynosurus cristatus..common knapweed Centaurea nigra..and meadow buttercup Ranunculus acris.
meadow cabbage n. North American skunk cabbage, Symplocarpus foetidus, a North American plant with a strong garlic odour, formerly used medicinally.
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1837 A. Tennant Veg. Materia Medica 421 Take two table spoons full of liferoot, one teaspoon full of angelica and two teaspoons of meadow cabbage, all pulverized and intimately mixed.
1892 Printers' Ink 21 Sept. 341/1 It is better that a rose should be called a rose, after all, than to be called that unfragrant meadow cabbage—even though by that name its odor would be the same.
1980 Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 17 May 15 a/3 You can call it collard, you can call it meadow cabbage.., skunk weed or swamp cabbage, or whatever. It may have a fetid odour, but it is pretty.
meadow campion n. ragged robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi.
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1686 J. Ray Hist. Plantarum II. xix. 1000 Meadow-pink, Wild Williams, Cuckow-flower: rectius Meadow-campion.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I Lychnis; pratensis, flore laciniato, pleno... The Double Meadow Campion, with a jagged flower, commonly called The Double Ragged Robin.
1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 85 Meadow Campion, Lychnis Flos-cuculi, L.
meadow cat's-tail n. timothy grass, Phleum pratense.
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1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 91 [Phleum pratense] Meadow Cat's Tail, or Timothy Grass. Anglis.
1894 Times 23 Apr. 12/3 Although Phleum pratense, long known as meadow catstail, is a native British grass, its cultivation as an agricultural plant was originated last century by Timothy Hanson, an American, after whom the grass got called timothy grass.
meadow clover n. any of several clovers of grassland, esp. (a) zigzag clover, Trifolium medium (now rare); (b) (chiefly U.S.) red clover, T. pratense.
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1652 W. Blith Eng. Improver Improved 177 I shall only speak of the great Claver, or Trefoyl we fetch from Flaunders called by Clusius, Trifolliummajus tertium, which bares the great red Honysuckle, whose leaf & branches far exceeds our natural Meadow Claver.
1855 J. C. Morton Cycl. Agric. II. 995/1 T[rifolium] medium (Perennial Red, or Meadow Clover, or Cow-grass) much resembles the T. pratense in botanical characters, but the root is of longer duration and rather more creeping.
1889 Cent. Dict. at Clover The red, purple, or meadow clover, T[rifolium] pratense, is extensively cultivated for fodder and as a fertilizer.
1910 Encycl. Brit. VI. 562/2 T[rifolium] medium, meadow or zigzag clover, a perennial with straggling flexuous stems and rose-purple flowers, is of little agricultural value.
1971 A. Krochmal et al. Guide Medicinal Plants Appalachia 252 Trifolium pratense..meadow clover.
meadow cranesbill n. a Eurasian cranesbill of meadows and grassy roadsides, Geranium pratense, with showy violet-blue flowers.
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1835 R. Mant Brit. Months II. vii. 269 The Giant Throatwort's bells of blue: The Meadow Cranesbill's purpler hue.
1858 A. Irvine Illustr. Handbk. Brit. Plants 748 G[eranium] pratense, Linn. Meadow Crane's-bill... In meadows... An uncommon plant in the south of England.
1991 Times 3 July 5/4 Southern species such as the fritillary and northern species such as the meadow cranesbill grow side by side.
meadow cress n. (also meadow cresses) now Scottish the cuckooflower, Cardamine pratensis.
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a1500 in T. Hunt Plant Names Medieval Eng. (1989) 185 [Nasturcium Pratinum] medowcresse.
1693 S. Dale Pharmacologia ii. §xviii. xi. 301 Cardamine Offic. ger. Nasturtium pratense... Iberis Fuchsii, sive Nasturtium pratense sylvestre J. B. Meadow-Cresses.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 347/1 Meadow Cress, Cardamine pratensis.
1896 Garden Work No. 114. 111/3 In the north-west of Dumfriesshire I understand this Cardamine has the name of ‘Meadow Kerses’.
meadow crocus n. British regional = meadow saffron n.
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1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 330 Meadow Crocus, Colchicum autumnale, L.—Yks.
meadow crowfoot n. (in full upright meadow crowfoot) = meadow buttercup n. (a).
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1648 J. Bobart Catalogus Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis 44 Ranunculus pratensis, Meddow Crowfoot.
1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica I. 293 [Ranunculus acris] Upright Meadow Crowfoot. Anglis. In meadows and pastures very common.
1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 174 Meadow vetchling and the tall meadow crowfoot.
1948 J. Hutchinson More Common Wild Flowers 89 Meadow Crowfoot, Ranunculus acris... Rather like R. bulbosus..but the stem not swollen at the base and the sepals are spreading and not reflexed.
meadow fescue n. (more fully meadow fescue-grass) a flat-leaved Eurasian fescue, Festuca pratensis, grown for hay and pasture in Europe and North America.
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1762 W. Hudson Flora Anglica Index at Fescue-grass Meadow fescue-grass.
1794 T. Martyn tr. J. J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. (ed. 4) xiii. 139 Meadow Fescue..has a culm two feet high.
1861 J. E. Sowerby & C. Johnson Grasses Great Brit. 110 The Meadow Fescue Grass is one of those that contribute most abundantly to the herbage of all rich natural pastures.
1983 M. Stansfield New Herdsman's Bk. iv. 46 Ryegrass, timothy, meadow fescue and clover are certainly preferred species.
meadow foam n. North American any plant of the genus Limnanthes (family Limnanthaceae), esp. the poached egg flower, Limnanthes douglasii, and Limnanthes alba, now grown as an oilseed plant; also with distinguishing word.
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1897 M. E. Parsons Wild Flowers Calif. 126 When the spring is well advanced, our wet meadows are all a-cream with the meadow-foam, whose dense masses blend exquisitely with the rich red of the common sorrel.
1976 T. F. Niehaus Field Guide Pacific States Wildflowers 50 All species of Meadow Foam develop 3–5 large nutlike seeds.
1989 Independent 23 Jan. 11 Meadowfoam, a plant native to Western Canada and the northwest of the US, has seeds which consist of up to one-third vegetable oil.
meadow foxtail n. a common Eurasian foxtail grass, Alopecurus pratensis, which has been introduced to North America and is occasionally cultivated as a meadow grass.
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1771 A. Young Farmer's Tour E. Eng. II. 256 The grass has consisted chiefly of the holchus,..a little meadow fox tail, and great poa:..it is remarkable that no vernal has appeared.
1802 J. Drayton View S.-Carolina 61 Remarkable Plants..indigenous to the state... Meadow fox-tail grass (Alopecurus pratensis).
1937 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses (ed. 3) x. 180 Some of our leading seed firms now offer seed of indigenous Meadow Foxtail, but the supplies are still very limited.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 395/1 Meadow foxtail, Alopecurus pratensis, is common in grasslands, preferring rich, damp soils.
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1884 W. Miller Dict. Eng. Names Plants 54/1 Gowan, Meadow, Caltha palustris.
1886 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 330 Meadow Gowan, Caltha palustris, L.—Ayrsh[ire].
meadow lily n. North American either of two North American lilies, the Canada lily, Lilium canadense, with nodding yellow flowers, and (now rare) the wood lily, L. pennsylvanicum, with upright red flowers.
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1832 W. D. Williamson Hist. Maine I. 125 [We have] two varieties of meadow-lilies, the upright has a flower of a red colour, freckled with black, in the other, the pensile is yellow freckled.
1894 Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore 7 102 Lilium Canadense,..meadow lily, nodding lily.
1946 E. Hodgins Mr. Blandings builds his Dream House (1947) viii. 104 When the bluebells and the columbine faded, the meadow lilies and the wild geranium took up the torch... August was well along.
1979 W. A. Niering & N. C. Olmstead Audubon Soc. Field Guide N. Amer. Wildflowers, Eastern Region 600 Canada Lily; Meadow Lily; Wild Yellow Lily.
1996 R. Mabey Flora Britannica 450 Meadow-rue has an unusually succinct Gaelic name: ru.
meadow mushroom n. a mushroom that grows in meadows, spec. the field mushroom, Agaricus campestris.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular vegetables > [noun] > mushrooms or edible fungi > mushroom > types of
champignon1578
meadow mushroom1597
goat's beard1640
button mushroom1708
flap1744
flab?18..
whitecap1801
nutmeg-boletus1813
blewits1830
mitre mushroom1854
St. George's mushroom1854
springer1860
cheese-room1865
horse mushroom1866
oyster mushroom1875
redmilk1882
beef-steak fungus1886
blusher1887
shaggy cap1894
shaggy mane1895
maitake1905
shiitake1925
oysterc1950
miller1954
porcino1954
saffron milk cap1954
old man of the woods1972
portobello1985
1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. clxii. 1386 Diners esteeme those for the best which grow vpon mountaines and hilly places, as Horace saith... The medow Mushrums are in kinde the best. It is ill trusting any of the rest.
1870 Nature 27 Oct. 519/1 With the ordinary meadow mushroom (A. campestris)..every one is familiar.
1884 Leisure Hour Nov. 703/2 The popular name of the common edible agaric is everywhere ‘the meadow mushroom’.
1961 W. P. Keller Canada's Wild Glory iv. 171 One variety quite similar to the meadow mushroom but less common and often found in the woods is the Destroying Angel.
1985 A. H. Smith & N. S. Weber Field Guide Southern Mushrooms 237 Another common name for this species [sc. Agaricus campestris] is meadow mushroom.
meadow oat n. (also meadow oats) = meadow oatgrass n.
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1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 166 Avena..pratensis... Meadow Oat. Heaths and high chalkey lands.
1815 Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N.Y. 1 71 The avena elatior, or tall meadow oats..is recommended as the best grass for green fodder and hay.
meadow oatgrass n. (a) a tufted perennial grass of calcareous grassland, Helictotrichon pratense; (b) U.S. false oatgrass, Arrhenatherum elatius.
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1877 H. Stewart Irrigation for Farm, Garden, & Orchard 120 There are several grasses..that are much better adapted to this culture [sc. an irrigated meadow]. These are the fowl meadow grass (Poa serotina), rough-stalked meadow grass (Poa trivialis), the tall meadow oat-grass, called ray grass in France, (Arrenatherum avenaceum), [etc.].
1937 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses (ed. 3) x. 182 Tall or False Oat-grass is indigenous to the whole of Europe and western Asia except the extreme north, and has been introduced into North America where it is sometimes known as Meadow Oat-grass.
1995 Daily Tel. 18 Sept. 5/1 The common, one of the last examples of a hay meadow in Huntingdonshire, is known for its trailing tormentil, meadow saxifrage..and hawkbit, and for rare grasses such as crested hair grass, quaking grass and meadow oat grass.
meadow orchid n. any orchid that grows in meadows; spec. the early marsh orchid, Dactylorhiza incarnata, widespread in Europe in wet and marshy areas, which typically bears salmon-pink flowers (cf. marsh orchid n. at marsh n.1 Compounds 3c).
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1889 Overland Monthly Feb. 144 The fragrant meadow orchid..had set Its snowy spikes among the rustling sedge.
1962 A. R. Clapham et al. Flora Brit. Isles (ed. 2) 1043 D[actylorchis] incarnata... Meadow Orchid... Ssp. incarnata, the commonest form, in wet meadows and marshes.
1979 D. Spence Shetland's Living Landscape 60 Where grazing is moderate, black bog-rush is often accompanied by meadow orchid..with brilliant carmine flowers.
meadow orchis n. any of several orchids of meadows, belonging to or formerly included in the genus Orchis; spec. the green-winged orchid, Orchis morio.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids
standengussa1400
standelworta1500
gandergoose?1550
adder's grass1551
ragwort1552
cuckoo orchis1578
fool's ballocks1578
Palma Christi1578
standergrass1578
fool's stones1597
fox-stones1597
goat's stones1597
goat stones1597
testicles1597
dead man's finger1604
long purples1604
dead man's thumb1652
man orchis1670
monkey orchisa1678
meadow orchis1753
military orchis1784
male orchis1785
ram's horn1832
lady orchis1846
dead man's hand1853
scorpion plant1866
phalaenopsid1880
walking orchid1910
soldier orchid1934
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Orchis The white-flowered spotted-leaved palmated meadow orchis.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 24 Orchis..Morio... Female Fool-stones. Meadow Orchis.
1919 W. Graveson Brit. Wild Flowers (ed. 2) xiii. 112 The Meadow Orchis..a plant rather shorter than the Early Purple Orchis of the woods, with a duller colour and with sepals streaked on the underside with green.
meadow parsnip n. †(a) cow parsnip, Heracleum sphondylium (obsolete); (b) any of several North American plants constituting the genus Thaspium (family Apiaceae ( Umbelliferae)) , with trifoliate leaves and chiefly yellow flowers; (c) U.S. (more fully golden meadow parsnip), golden alexanders, Zizia aurea.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Umbelliferae (umbellifers) > [noun] > cow-parsnip
masterwort1523
cow-parsnip1548
rough parsnip1548
meadow parsnip1562
madnep1597
heracleum1776
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Umbelliferae (umbellifers) > [noun] > other umbellifers
hemlocka700
petroselinumOE
parsleya1300
wild parsleya1300
parsnip1538
lovage1548
hartwort1562
meadow parsnip1562
ass-parsley1598
honewort1633
alexanders1637
dead-tongue1688
ajowan1773
Arracacha1823
pepper saxifrage1824
mock bishop-weed1848
pepper-and-salt1861
square parsley1866
ass's parsley1879
1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 145 Spondilion..maye be called in Englishe Kow persnepe or middow persnepe.
1822 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 3) ii. 484 Thaspium..aureum..meadow parsnip... Grows in dry meadows and pastures.
1822 A. Eaton Man. Bot. (ed. 3) ii. 484 Thaspium..aureum..meadow parsnip, false alexanders.
1843 J. Torrey Flora State N.Y. I. 271 Zizia aurea... Golden Meadow Parsnep.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1140 Thaspium, a genus of North American orthospermous Umbelliferæ... Its popular American name is Meadow Parsnip.
1968 R. T. Peterson & M. McKenny Field Guide Wildflowers Northeastern & North-central N. Amer. 162 Meadow-parsnip. Thaspium trifoliatum.
1968 T. M. Barkley Man. Flowering Plants Kansas 264 Golden Alexanders. Meadow Parsnip. Golden Zizia.
1979 W. A. Niering & N. C. Olmstead Audubon Soc. Field Guide N. Amer. Wildflowers, Eastern Region 334 A common southern Meadow Parsnip of a different genus (Thaspium trifoliatum), sometimes called Golden Alexanders as well, has only 3 lanceolate, toothed leaflets.
meadow pea n. = meadow vetchling n.
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1858 G. Bentham Handbk. Brit. Flora 181 Meadow Pea. Lathyrus pratensis, Linn... In moist meadows and pastures.
1896 G. Henslow How to study Wild Flowers 98 Lathyrus pratensis, Meadow Pea. This genus resembles vetches, but has fewer leaflets.
1960 S. Ary & M. Gregory Oxf. Bk. Wild Flowers 22/2 Meadow Vetchling or Meadow Pea (Lathyrus pratensis). Although this Pea has thin, rather weak stems, it may reach up to 3 feet in height by scrambling over other plants.
meadow pine n. any of several pines of the southern United States, esp. the slash pine, Pinus caribaea.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > conifers > [noun] > pines and allies
pine treeeOE
pineOE
pine-nut treec1330
pineapplec1390
pineapple treea1398
mountain pine1597
pine1597
mountain pine1601
frankincense1611
rosin flower?1611
black pine1683
Scotch pine1706
yellow pine1709
Jersey pine1743
loblolly pine1760
mugoa1768
Scots pine1774
Scotch fir1777
arrow plant1779
scrub pine1791
Georgia pine1796
old field pine1797
tamarack1805
grey pine1810
pond pine1810
New Jersey pine1818
loblolly1819
Corsican pine1824
celery-top pine1827
toatoa1831
heavy-wooded pine1836
nut pine1845
celery pine1851
celery-topped pine1851
sugar-pine1853
western white pine1857
Jeffrey1858
Korean pine1858
lodge-pole pine1859
jack pine1863
whitebark pine1864
twisted pine1866
Monterey pine1868
tanekaha1875
chir1882
slash-pine1882
celery-leaved pine1883
knee-pine1884
knobcone pine1884
matsu1884
meadow pine1884
Alaska pine1890
limber pine1901
bristlecone pine1908
o-matsu1916
insignis1920
radiata1953
1884 C. S. Sargent Rep. Forests N. Amer. 202 Pinus Cubensis..Slash Pine... Meadow Pine.
1897 G. B. Sudworth Nomencl. Arborescent Flora U.S. 31 Pinus heterophylla... Cuban Pine... [Also called] Meadow Pine (Cal., Fla., eastern Miss., in part).
1908 J. E. Rogers Tree Bk. 35 ‘Old-field’ and ‘meadow pine’ refer to its habit [sc. that of the loblolly pine] of invading land abandoned by farmers.
1950 D. C. Peattie Nat. Hist. Trees Eastern & Central N. Amer. 24 Pocosin pine... Other names: Pond, Marsh, or Meadow Pine.
meadow queen n. (also †meadow's queen) poetic meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria; cf. queen of the meadow n. at queen n. Phrases 1a.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > rosaceous plants > [noun] > meadow-sweet or dropwort
meadworteOE
meadsweeta1400
bridewort?a1450
meadowsweet1530
filipendula1548
goat's beard?1550
dropwort1597
queen of the meadow1597
mock-willow1633
meadow queena1637
queen of the prairie1852
honey-sweet1880
a1637 B. Jonson Pans Anniv. 41 in Wks. (1640) III Star'd with yellow-golds, and Meadowes Queene.
1853 J. Fraser Poetic Chimes 110 The modest meadow-queen, and lily near the lake.
1891 ‘H. Haliburton’ Ochil Idylls 158 Here a bunchy meadow-queen is Trying through a marsh to flounder.
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1656 W. Coles Art of Simpling vi. 18 From thence into the Meadowes, and there will be March marigolds, Moneyworth..Meadow Reubarbe, etc.
meadow rue n. [compare post-classical Latin ruta pratensis (1597, 1634 in British sources)] a Eurasian plant of riversides and marshy meadows, Thalictrum flavum (family Ranunculaceae), which has much divided leaves like those of rue and small yellow flowers with conspicuous stamens but no petals; (also, chiefly with distinguishing word) any of the other plants constituting the genus Thalictrum.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Ranunculaceae (crowfoot and allies) > [noun] > thalictrum or meadow rue
feathered columbine1629
meadow rue1648
meadow rhubarb1656
Thalictrum1664
rue anemone1817
muskrat weed1830
fen-rue1863
feather-columbine1878
1648 J. Bobart Eng. Catal. at Rue, in Catalogus Plantarum Horti Medici Oxoniensis Meddow Rue, Ruta pratensis (i) Thalict.
1668 Bp. J. Wilkins Ess. Real Char. ii. iv. §4. 83 Meadow Rue,..either that whose leaves resemble those of the Oak, with red veins: or that whose leaves resemble those of Wormwood.
1724 J. J. Dillenius Ray's Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Brit. (ed. 3) 203 Thalictrum minus... The lesser Meadow-Rue. On the chalky Grounds about Newmarket, Linton, and elsewhere.
1863 S. Baring-Gould Iceland 190 The tremulous dancing flowers of the Alpine meadow rue.
1927 G. C. Druce Flora Oxfordshire (ed. 2) Introd. p. liii The Thames from Oxford to Sandford flows through meadows..with its bank bordered with the sweet-scented flag (Acorus)..or the Meadow Rue (Thalictrum flavum).
1979 W. A. Niering & N. C. Olmstead Audubon Soc. Field Guide N. Amer. Wildflowers, Eastern Region 729 The leaves of Rue Anemone [= Anemonella thalictroides] are similar to those of the Meadow Rues.
meadow saffron n. any of various crocus-like plants constituting the Eurasian and North African monocotyledonous genus Colchicum (family Colchicaceae), esp. C. autumnale of Britain and western Europe (also called autumn crocus, naked ladies), which produces mauve flowers in the autumn and broad leaves in the following spring and which is a source of the drug colchicine.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > lily and allied flowers > bluebell and allied flowers > autumn crocus
wood-lilya1400
saffron of the spring1548
meadow saffron1551
hermodactyl1578
Mercury's finger1589
colchicum1597
autumn crocus1629
naked ladies1668
naked boysa1697
upstart1852
1551 W. Turner New Herball sig. Liiiv Colchicon..may be called in englyshe meddowe safforne... I haue sene it growe in the west cuntre besyde bathe.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iii. xxxv. 367 Medowe Saffron..is..found..about Bath in Englande.
a1678 T. Hanmer Garden Bk. (1933) 43 (heading) Of colchicums, or meadow saffrons.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Colchicum Colchicum; Candidum, multiflorum, C.B. Many-flower'd white Meadow-Saffron.
1878 tr. H. W. von Ziemssen et al. Cycl. Pract. Med. XVII. 734 Some seed-capsules of the meadow-saffron.
1946 A. Nelson Princ. Agric. Bot. iv. 89 In meadow saffron, a poisonous weed of pastures, the bud which forms the aerial shoot in spring is lateral and located near the base of a corm which has over-wintered.
1992 Nat. World Spring 6/3 Boulsbury Wood is the..only site in the county [sc. Hampshire] for meadow saffron and wood vetch.
meadow saxifrage n. †(a) pepper saxifrage, Silaum silaus (obsolete); (b) (in full white meadow saxifrage), a white-flowered European saxifrage of dry grassland, Saxifraga granulata, which bears bulbils in the axils of its basal leaves.
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1670 J. Ray Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ 277 Saxifraga Anglica facie Seseli pratensis Ger... Saxifraga Anglorum, foliis Foeniculi latioribus,..similis Silao J.B. Meadow-Saxifrage.
1683 J. Ray Corr. (1848) 132 Whether the Seseli pratensi Monspeliensium be a species distinct from our English Meadow Saxifrage? To me it seemed the same.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) II. 295 Peucedanum..Silaus... Meadow Saxifrage, or Sulphurwort. Moistish meadows and pastures.
1831 W. J. Hooker Brit. Flora (ed. 2) 194 S[axifraga] granulata, Linn. (white Meadow Saxifrage)... Hedge-banks, meadows and pastures, especially on a gravelly soil.
1897 G. C. Druce Flora Berks. 212 S[axifraga] granulata.., Meadow Saxifrage... A great ornament to some of our gravelly meadows and pastures.
1984 D. Steel Nat. Hist. Royal Forest viii. 72 Stowood, although a mere shadow of its former self having lost species such as..meadow saxifrage (Saxifraga granulata) and nettle-leaved bellflower (Campanula trachelium), still retains some interest.
meadow soft-grass n. the grass Yorkshire fog, Holcus lanatus.
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1777 J. Lightfoot Flora Scotica II. 631 [Holcus lanatus] Meadow Soft Grass. Anglis.
1937 S. F. Armstrong Brit. Grasses (ed. 3) vii. 122 Holcus lanatus, L. (Yorkshire Fog or Meadow Soft-grass.)
1995 Times 26 June 22/8 Meadow soft grass, which is very common, has a downy pyramid at the top.
meadow thistle n. a West European thistle with purple flowers, Cirsium dissectum, found in marshes and bogs and in fields with damp peaty soil.
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1688 J. Ray Historia Plantarum I. vii. iii. 305 Corduus pratensis latifolius C. B. Park. pratensis Tragi J. B. Tragus his Meadow-Thistle.
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 702 Carduus pratensis... Meadow Thistle. Single-headed Thistle. English soft or gentle Thistle... Moist meadows and pastures, not uncommon.
1858 A. Irvine Illustr. Handbk. Brit. Plants 506 C[arduus] pratensis. Meadow Thistle... Parkhurst Forest, Isle of Wight, very plentiful..; Windsor Forest; Wandsworth and Wimbledon Commons.
1920 J. Vaughan Music of Wild Flowers viii. 77 Scattered all over the moorland the solitary purple flowers of the strangely named ‘meadow-thistle’ will be seen.
1992 Wildlife News (Berks., Bucks & Oxon Naturalists' Trust) May 5/2 There are small areas of true fen where water seeps out of the ground. Purple moor grass and meadow thistle are particularly characteristic of these areas.
meadow trefoil n. any of several clovers occurring in meadows, esp. red clover, Trifolium pratense.
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1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 1017 (heading) Of three leafed Grasse or Medow Trefoile.
1766 Compl. Farmer at Grass The species called yellow meadow trefoil, or hop-clover.
1766 Compl. Farmer (at cited word) Our meadows afford us the white meadow trefoil..or white Dutch clover.
1811 D. Hosack Hortus Elginensis (ed. 2) 56 Trifolium pratense L. Clover or trefoil, meadow.
meadow vetchling n. a scrambling yellow-flowered vetchling of meadows and hedges, Lathyrus pratensis, native to Eurasia and North Africa.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > leguminous plants > [noun] > vetchling
vetchling1578
bird's pease1633
sea-pea1633
vetch1671
lathyrus1736
Tangier pea1736
vetch grass1753
meadow vetchling1796
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 634 Lathyrus pratensis... Tare Everlasting. Common Yellow, or Meadow Vetchling.
1834 Brit. Husbandry (Libr. Useful Knowl.) I. 511 Lathyrus pratensis, or meadow vetchling, furnishes a copious, succulent and tender herbage.
1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 174 Meadow vetchling and the tall meadow crowfoot.
1979 D. Spence Shetland's Living Landscape 44 Common associates [of tall false-oat grass]..are..tufted vetch, Vicia cracca, with deep mauve flowers, lemon-yellow meadow vetchling, Lathyrus pratensis, and angelica, Angelica sylvestris.
meadow violet n. any of several North American violets, esp. Viola papilionacea (the glabrous form of V. sororia).
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1853 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Nov. 481 Above her went the summer wind, With freight of sweetbriar from the hill, And scent of meadow violet.
1949 H. N. Moldenke Amer. Wild Flowers 45 Almost equally well loved is V[iola] papilionacea, the meadow violet, so abundant in moist fields, meadows, and groves.
1977 J. B. Moyle & E. W. Moyle Northland Wild Flowers 92 The Meadow Violet (V[iola] papilionacea) is a..nearly hairless plant of moist meadows, open woods, and dooryards, mostly in the south.
C4. Other uses.† meadow silver n. Obsolete rare a payment made in lieu of a feudal service of mowing; cf. mead silver n. at mead n.2 Compounds.† meadow thatch n. Obsolete rare coarse grass or rush used for thatching.
meadow green adj. and n. (a) adj. grass-green; (b) n. this shade of green.
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a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 4151 (MED) Anon ther sprong up flour and gras..And wox anon al medwe grene.
1794 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) I. 28 Meadow green—lively green, in which however the yellow predominates.
1875 L. Larcom Childhood Songs 21 Gentians fringed, like eyes of blue, Glimmer out of sleety dew. Winds through withered sedges hiss: Meadow-green I sadly miss.
1978 Morecambe Guardian 14 Mar. 36 (advt.) Avenger GL 1300 Estate, meadow green, charcoal interior.
1994 K. Kelly Out of Control viii. 132 Inside the transparent ball were four tiny brine shrimp, a feathery mass of meadowgreen algae draped on a twig of coral, and microbes in the invisible millions.
meadow ground n. an area of ground used as a meadow or meadows; cultivated grassland.
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the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > grassland > [noun] > meadow land
leasowc950
leasea1000
meadOE
meadowOE
meadowlandOE
mead ground1453
meadow ground1523
meading1560
meadowing1560
land-mead1577
1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Surueyeng iii. f. 2v Lowe groundes, medowe groundes, and marsshe groundes for hey.
?a1527 in Regulations & Establishm. Househ. Earl of Northumberland (1905) 25 The Mawynge Makynge and Cariage of all my Hey growynge of ciiij score v acres of Medowe ground.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost xi. 648 A Band..drives A herd of Beeves..From a fat Meddow ground . View more context for this quotation
1773 P. Kennedy Jrnl. in T. Hutchins Topogr. Descr. Virginia (1778) 54 The Prairie, or meadow ground on the eastern side, is at least twenty miles wide.
1807 W. Wordsworth Poems I. 136 Those Boys that in yon meadow-ground In white-sleev'd shirts are playing.
1986 William & Mary Q. 43 558 He [sc. a farm tenant] had a right to a stream used for watering the meadow ground five days of the week.
meadow hay n. hay made from meadow grass.
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1667 N. Fairfax Let. 5 Dec. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1967) IV. 16 Hardlond hey, if clear, is counted better for cows & horses yn meadow hey.
1681 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ (ed. 3) iii. 31 Ray-grass..they sometimes leave..for Meadow-Hay.
1733 J. Tull Horse-hoing Husbandry xiv. 83 If Meadow-Hay cannot have good Weather to be Cut [etc.].
1856 Farmer's Mag. Jan. 36 As much phosphate of lime..as though he consumed meadow-hay.
1986 Farmers Weekly 3 Jan. 20/1 (advt.) 666 tonnes Meadow Hay.
2006 C. Pippard in V. Aspinall Compl. Textbk. Vet. Nursing xii. 231/1 Meadow hay..will contain whatever was growing at the time, often a wide variety of grasses and broad-leafed plants.
meadow leet n. [ < meadow n. + leet n.4] English regional rare a stack of mown grass.
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1877 R. D. Blackmore Erema II. xl. 288 The meadow-leet..was dry as usual.
meadow ore n. now historical bog iron ore; cf. limonite n.
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1796 R. Kirwan Elements Mineral. (ed. 2) II. 182 Meadow Lowland Ore..this is so called because it is found a few feet under the surface of Lowland Meadows.]
1817 T. Thomson Syst. Chem. (ed. 5) III. 478 Meadow Ore.
1839 A. Ure Dict. Arts 834 Bog-ore, swamp-ore, and meadow-ore.
1941 Jrnl. Hist. Ideas 2 13 Agricola is given [by William Gilbert] as a reference for the occurrence and working of meadow-ore.
meadow pasture n. now regional = pasture n. 1a.
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1614 in D. Yaxley Researcher's Gloss. Hist. Documents E. Anglia (2003) 25 Meadow pasture & bruery.
a1637 B. Jonson Newes from New World 41 in Wks. (1640) III Forrests, Parks, Coney-ground, Meadow-pasture.
1786 Inventory in Mayflower Descendant (1923) 25 111 Meadow pasture field so called... Hay field at the Shore.
1855 T. B. Read Poems 116 Fair Miriam's was an ancient manse Upon the open plain: It looked to ocean's dim expanse, Saw miles of meadow pasture dance.
1890 Cent. Mag. July 340 (caption) Blue-grass meadow pasture.
1975 H. R. Sketchley Soil Surv. Sierra Valley Area, Calif. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 40/1 This soil is used mainly for meadow pasture. The natural vegetation is mostly wet meadow species such as wire grass, sedges, bluegrass, creeping wildrye, camas, and aster.
1998 W. J. Bradley in W. H. Crawford & R. H. Foy Townlands Ulster 161 Parcels of land laid out as fields, containing a variety of soil types, from meadow pasture through arable land to mountain grazing.
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a1377 in N. Neilson Customary Rents (1910) 84 (MED) Medweselver.
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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > plants, grasses, or reeds > [noun] > for thatching > grass or rush
meadow thatch1430
wiwi1840
1430–1 in J. T. Fowler Extracts Acct. Rolls Abbey of Durham (1898) I. 231 Empc. tignorum, straminis, le medewthak.
Derivatives
ˈmeadow-like adj.
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1679 in B. D. Hicks Rec. N. & S. Hempstead, Long Island (1896) I. 205 A Certaine Parcell of Land containing two & twenty acres of uplands with a piece of Medow like land.
1851 H. Melville Moby-Dick lviii. 305 That part of the sea known among whalemen as the ‘Brazil Banks’ [bears that name] because of this remarkable meadow-like appearance, caused by the vast drifts of brit continually floating in those latitudes.
1998 Stornoway Gaz. 31 Dec. 4/3 In summer the croft took on a verdant, meadow-like appearance.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
meadowv.
/ˈmɛdəʊ/, U.S. /ˈmɛdoʊ/ transitive. To devote (land) to the production of grass, esp. for hay; to use as meadow. Also intransitive.
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the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > cultivation of plants or crops > cultivation of specific crops > [verb (transitive)] > crop with grass or hay
turfc1430
sod1652
hay1708
meadow1768
to throw down1778
verd1778
grass1795
returf1824
stock1828
1768 W. Donaldson Life Sir Bartholomew Sapskull II. xxiv. 191 By meadowing a great deal, and feeding a little, they impoverish the land.
1866 A. Trollope Belton Estate I. iii. 58 I didn't know you ever meadowed the park.
1885 Law Times 28 Mar. 384/2 During this period they [sc. grasslands] were neither meadowed, grazed, nor cropped.
1918 Jrnl. Ecol. 6 124 Plantago media. It has now gone apparently, but why I cannot say. Can it be meadowed out of existence?
1997 T. Pynchon Mason & Dixon 7 We stood looking out at the Ohio Country,—so fair, a Revelation, meadow'd to the Horizon.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.OE
v.1768