awn
Americannoun
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a bristlelike appendage of a plant, especially on the glumes of grasses.
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such appendages collectively, as those forming the beard of wheat, barley, etc.
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any similar bristle.
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of awn
1250–1300; Middle English aw ( u ) n, agune, agene, probably < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse ǫgn, Old Danish aghn husk; replacing and cognate with Old English ægnan; cognate with Gothic ahana, Old High German agana ( German Agen, Ahne ), Dutch, Frisian agen; OL agna ear of grain, Czech osina awn; Greek ákaina thorn, bristle, ákhnē chaff (< a pre-Hellenic substratum language); < Indo-European *Haeḱ- sharp
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A thin film it leaves behind makes the awn an even better spot for condensation, making water collection yet more efficient.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 7, 2016
He at one point invoked the excesses of “King Jahge,” a tyrant who “made judges dependent awn his will alone.”
From Slate ● Jan. 5, 2015
Fertile glumes coriaceous, cylindrical-involute and closely embracing the smaller palet and the cylindrical grain, having a long and twisted or tortuous simple awn jointed with its apex.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
B. ásper, L. Culm slender and panicle smaller; spikelets 5–9-flowered; glume linear-lanceolate, scarcely keeled, hairy near the margins, rather longer than the awn; sheaths and lower leaves hairy or downy.—N.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
Panicle spike-like, one-sided, or more compound and open; spikelets 7–13-flowered; awn 1–3´´ long or more, usually shorter than or about equalling the glume; stamens 2.—Dry sterile soil, especially southward.
From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray
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