cattail
Americannoun
-
cattails
plural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cattail
First recorded in 1425–75, cattail is from the late Middle English word cattestail. See cat, tail 1
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.
See Examples For:
A short walk along an irrigation canal leads to a weathered observation deck rising two stories above a patchwork of saturated flats where saltgrass, iodine bush and cattail take root.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026
On her back sits a basket woven from cedar boughs and bark, sword fern fronds, cattail and grapevines, which is adorned with dried squash and pine cones.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 17, 2023
Part of the plan involves reintroducing native plant species that are more appropriate to the site than Phragmites: narrowleaf cattail, pickerelweed, black willow, blue iris, buttonbush and alder.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 11, 2021
The moment of seeing this belted kingfisher on the tip of a cattail, doing its call, swooping across the creek—and being so present in that moment—made me realize that I can actually enjoy my job.
From Scientific American ● Jun. 5, 2020
Blackbirds swarmed over the cattail swamp at the bottom of Hook Mountain.
From "Frightful's Mountain" by Jean Craighead George
It was close to sunset when I took my shoes off and waded deep past the bank of reeds and cattails.
From Salon ● May 11, 2024
There were “a lot of dirt, branches, parts of buildings, fences, cattails from swamps — everything,” she said.
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
Sitting in my red kayak, I was too busy trying to navigate the next rapid, a narrow water trail that shot through a dense grove of cattails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2022
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 ● Jun. 7, 2022
The coot hens are only mildly disturbed at the brief intrusion and circle back to the cattails to resume their breakfast.
From "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
