tussock (n.)

1540s, "tuft of hair," of uncertain origin; perhaps a diminutive of earlier tusk (1520s) with the same meaning (and also of obscure origin). The extended meaning "tuft of grass" is attested by c. 1600.

also from 1540s

Trends of tussock

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to Explore

tuft

"bunch of soft and flexible things fixed at the base with the upper ends loose," late 14c., of uncertain origin, perhaps from Old French touffe "tuft of hair" (14c.), which is either from Late Latin tufa "a kind of crest on a helmet" (also found in Late Greek toupha), or from a G

bog-trotter

peasantry, probably from the skill shown by many of them in crossing the extensive bogs of the country by leaping from tussock...to tussock, where a stranger would find no footing, and from the frequent use they make of this skill to escape from the...

wisp

early 14c., "handful or bundle of hay, grass, etc.," used for burning or cleaning or as a cushion; perhaps from an unrecorded Old English word, cognate with Norwegian and Swedish visp "wisp," of unknown origin; sometimes said to be connected with whisk or with Middle Low German a

bunch

mid-14c., "a bundle;" late 14c., "protuberance on the body, swelling, knob, lump," probably from Old French dialectal bonge "bundle," a nasalized form of Old French bouge (2), 15c., from Flemish bondje diminutive of boud "bundle." The sense of "a cluster, joined collection of thi

accommodate

1530s, "fit one thing to another," from Latin accomodatus "suitable, fit, appropriate to," past participle of accomodare "make fit, make fit for, adapt, fit one thing to another," from ad "to" (see ad-) + commodare "make fit," from commodus ""proper, fit, appropriate, convenient,

condition

mid-14c., condicioun, "particular mode of being of a person or thing," also "a requisite or prerequisite, a stipulation," from Old French condicion "stipulation; state; behavior; social status" (12c., Modern French condition), from Medieval Latin conditionem (nominative conditio)

matter

c. 1200, materie, "the subject of a mental act or a course of thought, speech, or expression," from Anglo-French matere, Old French matere "subject, theme, topic; substance, content; character, education" (12c., Modern French matière) and directly from Latin materia "substance fr

April

fourth month, c. 1300, aueril, from Old French avril (11c.), from Latin (mensis) Aprilis, second month of the ancient Roman calendar, from a stem of uncertain origin and meaning, with month-name suffix -ilis as in Quintilis, Sextilis (the old names of July and August). Perhaps ba

gossamer

c. 1300, "filmy substance (actually spider threads) found in fields of stubble in late fall," apparently from gos "goose" (see goose (n.)) + sumer "summer" (see summer (n.)). Blount (1656) has it as gossymeare or gossomor "the white and cobweb-like exhalations, which fly abroad i

shadow

Middle English shadwe, from Old English sceadwe, sceaduwe "shade, the effect of interception of sunlight; dark image cast by someone or something when interposed between an object and a source of light," oblique cases ("to the," "from the," "of the," "in the") of sceadu (see shad

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updated on March 27, 2023

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Dictionary entries near tussock

tushy

tusk

Tuskegee

tussive

tussle

tussock

tut

tutee

tutelage

tutelary

tutor