Adjacent Words

Meadow definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MEADOW, n. med'o. A tract of low land. In America, the word is applied particularly to the low ground on the banks of rivers, consisting of a rich mold or an alluvial soil, whether grass land, pasture, tillage or wood land; as the meadows on the banks of the Connecticut. The word with us does not necessarily imply wet land. This species of land is called, in the western states, bottoms, or bottom land. The word is also used for other low or flat lands, particularly lands appropriated to the culture of grass.
The word is said to be applied in Great Britain to land somewhat watery, but covered with grass.
Meadow means pasture or grass land, annually mown for hay; but more particularly, land too moist for cattle to graze on in winter, without spoiling the sward.
[Mead is used chiefly in poetry.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a field where grass or alfalfa are grown to be made into hay [syn: hayfield, meadow]

Merriam Webster's

noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English medwe, from Old English m?dwe, oblique case form of m?d; akin to Old English m?wan to mow — more at mow Date: before 12th century land in or predominantly in grass; especially a tract of moist low-lying usually level grassland • meadowy adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a piece of grassland, esp. one used for hay. 2 a piece of low well-watered ground, esp. near a river. Phrases and idioms: meadow brown a common brown butterfly, Maniola jurtina. meadow-grass a perennial creeping grass, Poa pratensis. meadow lark US any songbird of the genus Sturnella, esp. the yellow-breasted S. magna of N. America. meadow pipit a common pipit, Anthus pratensis, native to Europe, Asia, and Africa. meadow rue any ranunculaceous plant of the genus Thalictrum, esp. T. flavum with small yellow flowers. meadow saffron a perennial plant, Colchicum autumnale, abundant in meadows, with lilac flowers: also called autumn crocus. Derivatives: meadowy adj. Etymology: OE mædwe, oblique case of mæd: see MEAD(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Meadow Mead"ow, n. [AS. meady; akin to m[=ae]d, and to G. matte; prob. also to E. mow. See Mow to cut (grass), and cf. 2d Mead.] 1. A tract of low or level land producing grass which is mown for hay; any field on which grass is grown for hay. 2. Low land covered with coarse grass or rank herbage near rives and in marshy places by the sea; as, the salt meadows near Newark Bay.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Meadow Mead"ow, a. Of or pertaining to a meadow; of the nature of a meadow; produced, growing, or living in, a meadow. ``Fat meadow ground.'' --Milton. Note: For many names of plants compounded with meadow, see the particular word in the Vocabulary. Meadow beauty. (Bot.) Same as Deergrass. Meadow foxtail (Bot.), a valuable pasture grass (Alopecurus pratensis) resembling timothy, but with softer spikes. Meadow grass (Bot.), a name given to several grasses of the genus Poa, common in meadows, and of great value for nay and for pasture. See Grass. Meadow hay, a coarse grass, or true sedge, growing in uncultivated swamp or river meadow; -- used as fodder or bedding for cattle, packing for ice, etc. [Local, U. S.] Meadow hen. (Zo["o]l.) (a) The American bittern. See Stake-driver. (b) The American coot (Fulica). (c) The clapper rail. Meadow lark (Zo["o]l.), any species of Sturnella, a genus of American birds allied to the starlings. The common species (S. magna) has a yellow breast with a black crescent. Meadow mouse (Zo["o]l.), any mouse of the genus Arvicola, as the common American species A. riparia; -- called also field mouse, and field vole. Meadow mussel (Zo["o]l.), an American ribbed mussel (Modiola plicatula), very abundant in salt marshes. Meadow ore (Min.), bog-iron ore, a kind of limonite. Meadow parsnip. (Bot.) See under Parsnip. Meadow pink. (Bot.) See under Pink. Meadow pipit (Zo["o]l.), a small singing bird of the genus Anthus, as A. pratensis, of Europe. Meadow rue (Bot.), a delicate early plant, of the genus Thalictrum, having compound leaves and numerous white flowers. There are many species. Meadow saffron. (Bot.) See under Saffron. Meadow sage. (Bot.) See under Sage. Meadow saxifrage (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant of Europe (Silaus pratensis), somewhat resembling fennel. Meadow snipe (Zo["o]l.), the common or jack snipe.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(meadows) A meadow is a field which has grass and flowers growing in it. N-COUNT

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Heb. ha'ahu (Gen. 41:2, 18), probably an Egyptain word transferred to the Hebrew; some kind of reed or water-plant. In the Revised Version it is rendered "reed-grass", i.e., the sedge or rank grass by the river side.

(2.) Heb. ma'areh (Judg. 20:33), pl., "meadows of Gibeah" (R.V., after the LXX., "Maareh-geba"). Some have adopted the rendering "after Gibeah had been left open." The Vulgate translates the word "from the west."

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

med'-o:

(1) `aroth, "the meadows (the King James Version "paper reeds") by the Nile" (Isa 19:7); ma`areh-gabha`, the King James Version "meadows of Gibeah," the Revised Version (British and American) "Maareh-geba," the Revised Version margin "the meadow of Geba, or Gibeah" (Jud 20:33); from `arah, "to be naked"; compare Arabic ariya, "to be naked," `ara'a', "a bare tract of land." `Aroth and ma`areh signify tracts bare of trees.

(2) 'achu, in Pharaoh's dream of the kine, the King James Version "meadow," the Revised Version (British and American) "reed grass" (Ge 41:2,18). 'Achu is found also in Job 8:11, the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) "flag," the Revised Version margin "reed-grass." According to Gesenius, achu is an Egyptian word denoting the vegetation of marshy ground.

(3) 'abhel keramim, "Abel-cheramim," the Revised Version margin "The meadow of vineyards," the King James Version "the plain (the King James Version margin, "Abel") of the vineyards" (Jud 11:33); "Abel-beth-maacah" (1Ki 15:20; 2Ki 15:29; compare 2Sa 20:14,15,18); "Abel-shittim" (Nu 33:49; compare Nu 25:1; Jos 2:1; 3:1; Jud 7:22; Joe 3:18; Mic 6:5); "Abel-meholah" (Jud 7:22; 1Ki 4:12; 19:16); "Abel-maim" (2Ch 16:4); "Abel-mizraim" (Ge 50:11); "stone," the King James Version "Abel," the Revised Version margin "Abel," that is "a meadow" (1Sa 6:18); compare Arabic 'abal, "green grass," and 'abalat, "unhealthy marshy ground," from wabal, "to rain."

Alfred Ely Day

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Mead, lea, grass land, sward land.

Moby Thesaurus

baygall, bog, bottom, bottomland, bottoms, buffalo wallow, campo, everglade, fen, fenland, field, glade, grass, grass veld, grassland, grazing, haugh, haughland, hog wallow, holm, lea, llano, marais, marish, marsh, marshland, mead, meadow land, mere, mire, moor, moorland, morass, moss, mud, mud flat, pampa, pampas, park, pasturage, pasture, pasture land, peat bog, prairie, quagmire, quicksand, range, salt marsh, savanna, slob land, slough, sough, steppe, steppeland, sump, swale, swamp, swampland, taiga, vega, veld, wallow, wash