fescue

[ fes-kyoo ]

/ ˈfɛs kyu /

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noun

Also called fescue grass . any grass of the genus Festuca, some species of which are cultivated for pasture or lawns.

a pointer, as a straw or slender stick, used to point out the letters in teaching children to read.

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Origin of fescue

1350–1400; earlier festue,Middle English festu<Middle French <Vulgar Latin *festūcum, for Latin festūca stalk, straw

Words nearby fescue

Fervidor, fervor, fervour, Fès, fescennine, fescue, fescue foot, fess, fesse, Fessenden, fesse point

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fescue in a sentence

The reader is probably acquainted with the Fescue Grass, with its awned flowers arranged in one-sided panicles.
The Sea Shore|William S. Furneaux
Meadow Fescue is one of the most common of the fescue grasses, and is said to be the Randall grass of Virginia.
Cattle and Their Diseases|Robert Jennings
The fescue (Festuca ovina), a little fern (Woodsia), and a saussurea ascend very near the summit.
The Heart of Nature|Francis Younghusband
A larger form, the Hard Fescue (F. duriuscula), is common to sound meadows and the hill valleys.
Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation|James Buckman

Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratensis, fig. 20) may be taken as the type of the broad-leaved fescues.
Science and Practice in Farm Cultivation|James Buckman

British Dictionary definitions for fescue

fescue

fescue grass

/ (ˈfɛskjuː) /

noun

any grass of the genus Festuca : widely cultivated as pasture and lawn grasses, having stiff narrow leavesSee also meadow fescue, sheep's fescue

Word Origin for fescue

C14: from Old French festu, ultimately from Latin festūca stem, straw

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