gulfweed

[ guhlf-weed ]

/ ˈgʌlfˌwid /

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noun

a coarse, olive-brown, branching seaweed, Sargassum bacciferum, common in the Gulf Stream and tropical American seas, characterized by numerous berrylike air vessels.

any seaweed of the same genus.

RELATED WORDS

algae, tangle, rockweed

Nearby words

Origin of gulfweed

First recorded in 1665–75; gulf + weed¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for gulfweed

Sea-lentil is a name sometimes applied to the gulfweed Sargassum vulgare.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 16, Slice 4|Various
Some sea-horses cling by their tails to gulfweed or sea-wrack.
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)|David Starr Jordan

British Dictionary definitions for gulfweed

gulfweed

/ (ˈɡʌlfˌwiːd) /

noun

any brown seaweed of the genus Sargassum, esp S. bacciferum, having air bladders and forming dense floating masses in tropical Atlantic waters, esp the Gulf StreamAlso called: sargasso, sargasso weed

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