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.

Words nearby spinifex

spineless, spinescent, spinet, spingarn, 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