sagebrush

[seyj-bruhsh]

noun

any of several sagelike, bushy composite plants of the genus Artemisia, especially A. tridentata, having silvery, wedge-shaped leaves, with three teeth at the tip, common on the dry plains of the western U.S.

Origin of sagebrush

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35; sage² + brush²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for sagebrush

Historical Examples of sagebrush

Once clear of the sagebrush, she drew rein for him to come up.
Out of the Depths
Robert Ames Bennet
The air was filled with odors of camels, of cous-cous, of sagebrush.
Sacrifice
Stephen French Whitman
I must see if I can't contrive to make some sort of a shelter with this sagebrush.
Deserted
Edward Bellamy
The fire on Sagebrush sparkled like a single jewel in a vast setting.
Virginia of Elk Creek Valley
Mary Ellen Chase
Some one was coming along the rough trail through the sagebrush.
Virginia of Elk Creek Valley
Mary Ellen Chase

British Dictionary definitions for sagebrush

sagebrush

noun

any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, esp A. tridentata, a shrub of W North America, having silver-green leaves and large clusters of small white flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)

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

Word Origin and History for sagebrush

1850, from sage (n.1), to which it has no biological affinity, + brush (n.2). Said to be so called for resemblance of its appearance or odor.

Sage-brush is very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure. Nothing can abide the taste of it but the jackass and his illegitimate child, the mule. ["Mark Twain," "Roughing It"]