sedge
- any rushlike or grasslike plant of the genus Carex, growing in wet places.Compare sedge family.
- any plant of the sedge family.
- siege(def 5).
Origin of sedge
Related Words for sedge
thicket, scrub, shrubbery, undergrowth, grove, cover, coppice, hedge, copse, dingle, sedge, underwood, brushwood, fern, gorse, bracken, spinney, chaparral, boscageExamples from the Web for sedge
Historical Examples of sedge
I waded on, casting and playing beyond the lily pads and sedge.
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
They lay across the road, or to either hand in the melancholy fields of sedge.
The Long RollMary Johnston
The rest of High Bar is only a few acres of sedge and marsh.
Torchy and VeeSewell Ford
One of the lower terraces had become a wild mere of sedge and reeds.
Susy, A Story of the PlainsBret Harte
Already it had cleared the sedge, and was floating out in open water.
The Hunters' FeastMayne Reid
sedge
- any grasslike cyperaceous plant of the genus Carex, typically growing on wet ground and having rhizomes, triangular stems, and minute flowers in spikelets
- any other plant of the family Cyperaceae
Word Origin for sedge
Word Origin and History for sedge
"coarse grass-like plant growing in wet places," Old English secg "sedge, reed, rush," from Proto-Germanic *sagjoz (cf. Low German segge, German Segge), probably from PIE root *sek- "to cut" (see section (n.) and cf. Old English secg, identical in form but meaning "sword;" and cf. German schwertel-gras "sedge" from schwert "sword"), on notion of plant with "cutting" leaves (cf. etymological sense of gladiolus). Old Irish seisg, Welsh hesgreed "rush" might represent a similar sense development from the same root. Often spelled seg, segg until present form triumphed early 1900s.