cotton grass

noun

any rushlike plant constituting the genus Eriophorum, of the sedge family, common in swampy places and bearing spikes resembling tufts of cotton.

QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Did you ever collect all those state quarters? Put them to good use on this quiz about curious state monikers and the facts around them.

Question 1 of 8

Mississippi’s nickname comes from the magnificent trees that grow there. What is it?

The Sunflower State

The Evergreen State

The Magnolia State

The Mockingbird State

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Origin of cotton grass

First recorded in 1590–1600; so called from its cottonlike heads

Words nearby cotton grass

cotton cake, cotton candy, cotton-fiber embolism, cotton flannel, cotton gin, cotton grass, cotton gum, cotton mill, cottonmouth, cotton on, cotton picker

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for cotton grass

A child presented me with a bunch of cotton-grass, gathered on the moors not far from the Roman-Wall.
Northumberland Yesterday and To-day|Jean F. Terry
The foam rested in flakes on the rushes where it hung and fluttered like tufts of cotton-grass.
In the Roar of the Sea|Sabine Baring-Gould
Many attempts have been made to spin the silky threads of the Cotton-grass which grows abundantly on the Scotch lowlands.
The Romance of Plant Life|G. F. Scott Elliot
The third nest, containing six fresh eggs, was at the edge of a clump of cotton-grass and was exposed from directly above.
Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska|James W. Bee

The cup had an inwardly reflected rim, was made of stems of cotton-grass, and was well insulated with 15 mm of down feathers.
Birds Found on the Arctic Slope of Northern Alaska|James W. Bee

British Dictionary definitions for cotton grass

cotton grass

noun

any of various N temperate and arctic grasslike bog plants of the cyperaceous genus Eriophorum, whose clusters of long silky hairs resemble cotton tuftsAlso called: bog cotton

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

MEANINGS

WORD GAMES

LEARN

WRITING

WORD OF THE DAY

cotton grass

noun

QUIZZES

THINK YOU’VE GOT A HANDLE ON THIS US STATE NICKNAME QUIZ?

Origin of cotton grass

Words nearby cotton grass

Example sentences from the Web for cotton grass

British Dictionary definitions for cotton grass

noun