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• old-man's-beard
  old-man's-beard

  noun

  fringe tree.
• old man's beard
  old man's beard

  noun

  any of various plants having a white feathery appearance, esp traveller's joy and Spanish moss

old-man's-beard

American  

[ohld-manz-beerd] / ˈoʊldˌmænzˈbɪərd /

noun

1. fringe tree.

2. beard moss.

3. traveler's-joy.

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old man's beard British  

noun

1. any of various plants having a white feathery appearance, esp traveller's joy and Spanish moss

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Etymology

Origin of old-man's-beard

First recorded in 1735–45

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

old-man's-beard old man's beard

With this he disappeared In hazel and thorn tangled with old-man's-beard.

From Poems by Thomas, Edward

Then upon thyme and tansy think, On fields of sainfoin, ruddy pink, On dells deep down and rocks upreared, On lad's-love and on old-man's-beard, On spearmint and on silver sages, On colewort and on saxifrages!

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, February 4, 1914 by Seaman, Owen, Sir

It was a beautiful unkept hedge with scarlet and purple fruit among the many-coloured fading leaves and silver-grey down of old-man's-beard.

From Afoot in England by Hudson, W. H. (William Henry)

Yes, Spanish moss, as we call it here, or old-man’s-beard moss, as they name it in other parts.

From The Boy Hunters by Unknown

Curtains of delicate old man’s beard sway in the breeze. 

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 1, 2017

They look like messy string or an old man’s beard or even Rapunzel’s hair.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2015

There wasn’t much of a trail, just a gravel road with some picnic tables under big trees dripping with old man’s beard.

From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2014

In the high reaches of the fresco, two angels kiss; another plays coyly with an old man's beard.

From Time Magazine Archive

Along the edge of the wood a sheet of wild clematis showed like a patch of smoke, all its sweet-smelling flowers turned to old man’s beard.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams