spinifex

American  

[spahy-nuh-feks] / ˈspaɪ nəˌfɛks /

noun

• spinifex,
  plural
• spinifexes
  plural

1. any of several Australian grasses of the genera Spinifex, Plectrachne, or Triodia, having spiny seeds and stiff, sharp-pointed leaves that grow in dense masses.

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spinifex British  

/ ˈspɪnɪˌfɛks /

noun

1. Also called: porcupine grass. any of various coarse spiny-leaved inland grasses of the genus Triodia

2. any grass of the SE Asian genus Spinifex, having pointed leaves and spiny seed heads: often planted to bind loose sand

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• spinifex
  plural
• spinifexes
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of spinifex

First recorded in 1845–55; from New Latin spīnifex, literally “spine maker,” equivalent to Latin spīn(a) “thorn, spine, backbone” + -i- ( def. ) + -fex ( def. )

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

spinifex

Surrounded by red sandhills, he got down from the vehicle and a night parrot flew up from a clump of spinifex.

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2022

The researchers said feather was not found in the parrot's usual spinifex habitat but near samphire, a succulent.

From BBC ● Sep. 13, 2017

The boom was set off by a small but promising nickel find in the sand and spinifex of Western Australia.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here she was shown how to grind spinifex resin, and was taken to a grotto knotted with fossils.

From Time Magazine Archive

The formation is desert sandstone overlaid with nodular ironstone conglomerate; the vegetation dense, chiefly ti-tree scrubs growing upon spuey or rotten ground, together with spinifex, saltpans, and marshes.

From Early Days in North Queensland by Edward Palmer

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