sward
/swɔːd
/noun
1 literary An expanse of short grass.
2 Farming The upper layer of soil, especially when covered with grass.This reduces the proportion of grass in the brassica-grass sward, which is not always advantageous....
- He also says that the prairie includes ‘waving ground, necessarily of good soil, from the beautiful sward of grass rising from it.’
- The standing sward of rye, clovers, and fescues is increasingly varied with herbs like dock and comfrey, which help pull nutrients up from the subsoil.
Derivatives
swarded
- Silent, with heads uncovered, the travelers, nearer approaching, Knelt on the swarded floor, and joined in the evening devotions.
- Who could endure without fear if he saw the stars of heaven and the firmament itself rushing down and falling before him on the swarded surface of the earth?
Origin
Old English sweard 'skin'. The sense 'upper layer of soil' developed in late Middle English (at first in phrases such as sward of the earth).