cliff brake

American

noun

any of several common ferns of the genus Pellaea, usually growing in pockets of thin soil on rocks.

Etymology

Origin of cliff brake

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

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.

The smooth cliff brake has a decidedly northern range, growing from northern Vermont to Missouri, and northwestward, but found rarely, if at all, in southern New England.

From Project Gutenberg

Modern botanists are inclined to place the dense cliff brake and the slender cliff brake under the genus Cryptográmma, which is so nearly like Pellaea that one hesitates to choose between them.

From Project Gutenberg

The dense cliff brake may be described as follows: Stipes three to nine inches tall, blades one to three inches, triangular-ovate, pinnate at the summit, and tripinnate below.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023