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fireweed

[fahyuh r-weed]
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noun
  1. any of various plants appearing in recently burned clearings, as the willow herb, Epilobium angustifolium.
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Origin of fireweed

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85; fire + weed1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for fireweed

Historical Examples

  • There were great fields of fireweed, which presented masses of pink.

    Canoeing in the wilderness

    Henry David Thoreau

  • Fireweed grew low, but the blooms were large and of a deep rose color.

    Alaska

    Ella Higginson

  • The fireweed, familiar everywhere in the mountains, shone like a tongue of flame against a background of green.

    Jack the Young Canoeman

    George Bird Grinnell

  • The Fireweed is cultivated as an ornamental plant in England, where the leaves are also used as an adulterant of tea.

  • Here and there were wooded slopes; others were rosy with fireweed that moved softly, like clouds.

    Alaska

    Ella Higginson

British Dictionary definitions for fireweed

fireweed

noun
  1. any of various plants that appear as first vegetation in burnt-over areas, esp rosebay willowherb
  2. Also called: pilewort a weedy North American plant, Erechtites hieracifolia, having small white or greenish flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)
  3. an Australian rainforest tree, Stenocarpus sinuatus, having whorls of bright red flowers
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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