spinifex

[ spahy-nuh-feks ]

/ ˈspaɪ nəˌfɛks /

noun, plural spi·ni·fex, spi·ni·fex·es.

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.

Nearby words

spinescent, spinet, spingarn, spingarn, joel elias, spiniferous, spinifex, spinmeister, spinnaker, spinnbarkeit, spinner, spinneret

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

Examples from the Web for spinifex

Often the wells were quite dry and food painfully scarce; this would be in a region of sand and spinifex.
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont|Louis de Rougemont
We turned east for ten miles to a range, which we found to be covered with spinifex.
Explorations in Australia|John Forrest
At twelve miles it became scrubby and sandy with a little grass, spinifex predominating, which continued to where we camped.
Explorations in Australia, The Journals of John McDouall Stuart|John McDouall Stuart
The spinifex grew knee-high and its roots extended in all directions.
The Lost Valley|J. M. Walsh

It was a wild and lonely land, close to the edge of the scrub, beyond them only sand and spinifex.
Jean, Our Little Australian Cousin|Mary F. Nixon-Roulet

British Dictionary definitions for spinifex

spinifex

/ (ˈspɪnɪˌfɛks) /

noun

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

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

Word Origin for spinifex

C19: from New Latin, from Latin spīna a thorn + -fex maker, from facere to make

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