spinifex

[ spahy-nuh-feks ]

/ ˈspaɪ nəˌfɛks /

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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.

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Origin of spinifex

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

Words nearby spinifex

spinet, spine-tingling, spin fishing, Spingarn, spiniferous, spinifex, spin machine, spinmeister, spinnaker, spinnbarkeit, spinner

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use spinifex in a sentence

Up jumped Nquing from his burrow in the spinifex and shouted, "Go away!"
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II|Rudyard Kipling
As we ascended it we passed many isolated hills of perhaps a few hundred feet, and nowhere did I see any scrub or spinifex.
The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont|Louis de Rougemont
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
Spinifex and sand resumed their predominance as the travellers left the lake behind them.
Some Heroes of Travel|W. H. Davenport Adams

The spinifex that grew in the interstices of the rocks was also no inconsiderable hindrance to our movements.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia|Phillip Parker King

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