bulrush

American  

[bool-ruhsh] / ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ /

noun

1. (in Biblical use) the papyrus, Cyperus papyrus.

2. any of various rushes of the genera Scirpus and Typha.

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bulrush British  

/ ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ /

noun

1. a grasslike cyperaceous marsh plant, Scirpus lacustris , used for making mats, chair seats, etc

2. a popular name for reed mace

3. a biblical word for papyrus

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Etymology

Origin of bulrush

1400–50; late Middle English bulrish papyrus, probably bull ¹ + rish rush ²

Example Sentences

Families and friends fish together on the lake’s banks and its fishing piers, casting poles through the California bulrush.

From Los Angeles Times

Inundating the land, and allowing the ancient bulrushes and cattails to return—or potentially cultivating rice—would stop those emissions immediately, and even store carbon as new plants grow.

From Scientific American

She walked through the bulrushes and cordgrass to the very edge of the marsh’s waterline.

From Literature

By the time my mother passed at age 100, there was only one item left in her apartment that she cherished — a huge framed needlepoint tapestry of Moses in the bulrushes hovering over her bed.

From New York Times

At the water’s edge, MacLeish carefully scanned dense thickets of willows and bulrush, saying, “Black toads are good at hiding.”

From Los Angeles Times