heath

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

heath, n. [OE. heth waste land, the plant heath, AS. h; akin to D. & G. heide, Icel. hei waste land, Dan. hede, Sw. hed, Goth. hai field, L. bucetum a cow pasture; cf. W. coed a wood, Skr. ksh field.

•  A low shrub (Erica vulgaris or Calluna vulgaris), with minute evergreen leaves, and handsome clusters of pink flowers. It is used in Great Britain for brooms, thatch, beds for the poor, and for heating ovens. It is also called heather, and ling.  [1913 Webster]
•  A place overgrown with heath; any cheerless tract of country overgrown with shrubs or coarse herbage.  [1913 Webster]

  "Their stately growth, though bare,
  Stands on the blasted heath."  [1913 Webster]

Heath cock (Zoöl.), the blackcock. See Heath grouse (below). -- Heath grass (Bot.), a kind of perennial grass, of the genus Triodia (Triodia decumbens), growing on dry heaths. -- Heath grouse, or Heath game (Zoöl.), a European grouse (Tetrao tetrix), which inhabits heaths; -- called also black game, black grouse, heath poult, heath fowl, moor fowl. The male is called heath cock, and blackcock; the female, heath hen, and gray hen. -- Heath hen. (Zoöl.) See Heath grouse (above). -- Heath pea (Bot.), a species of bitter vetch (Lathyrus macrorhizus), the tubers of which are eaten, and in Scotland are used to flavor whisky. -- Heath throstle (Zoöl.), a European thrush which frequents heaths; the ring ouzel.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

heath, n.
1 an area of flattish uncultivated land with low shrubs.
2 a plant growing on a heath, esp. of the genus Erica or Calluna (e.g. heather).

Derivative

heathless adj. heathlike adj. heathy adj.

Etymology

OE h{aelig}th f. Gmc

THESAURUS

heath

Arabia Deserta, Death Valley, Sahara, alkali flat, alluvial plain, barren, barren land, barrens, basin, bottomland, brush, bush, bushveld, campo, champaign, champaign country, coastal plain, delta, desert, desolation, down, downs, dust bowl, fell, flat, flat country, flatland, flats, grass veld, grassland, howling wilderness, karroo, lande, level, llano, lowland, lowlands, lunar landscape, lunar mare, lunar waste, mare, mesa, mesilla, moor, moorland, open country, outback, pampa, pampas, peneplain, plain, plains, plateau, playa, prairie, salt flat, salt marsh, salt pan, savanna, sebkha, steppe, table, tableland, tree veld, tundra, upland, vega, veld, waste, wasteland, weald, weary waste, wide-open spaces, wild, wilderness, wilds, wold

ROGET THESAURUS

heath

Plain

N plain, table-land, face of the country, open country, champaign country, basin, downs, waste, weary waste, desert, wild, steppe, pampas, savanna, prairie, heath, common, wold, veldt, moor, moorland, bush, plateau, campagna, alkali flat, llano, mesa, mesilla, playa, shaking prairie, trembling prairie, vega, meadow, mead, haugh, pasturage, park, field, lawn, green, plat, plot, grassplat, greensward, sward, turf, sod, heather, lea, ley, lay, grounds, maidan, agostadero, champaign, alluvial, campestral, campestrial, campestrian, campestrine.

Vegetable

N vegetable, vegetable kingdom, flora, verdure, plant, tree, shrub, bush, creeper, herb, herbage, grass, annual, perennial, biennial, triennial, exotic, timber, forest, wood, woodlands, timberland, hurst, frith, holt, weald, park, chase, greenwood, brake, grove, copse, coppice, bocage, tope, clump of trees, thicket, spinet, spinney, underwood, brushwood, scrub, boscage, bosk, ceja, chaparal, motte, arboretum, bush, jungle, prairie, heath, heather, fern, bracken, furze, gorse, whin, grass, turf, pasture, pasturage, turbary, sedge, rush, weed, fungus, mushroom, toadstool, lichen, moss, conferva, mold, growth, alfalfa, alfilaria, banyan, blow, blowth, floret, petiole, pin grass, timothy, yam, yew, zinnia, foliage, branch, bough, ramage, stem, tigella, spray, leaf, flower, blossom, bine, flowering plant, timber tree, fruit tree, pulse, legume, vegetable, vegetal, vegetive, vegitous, herbaceous, herbal, botanic, sylvan, silvan, arborary, arboreous, arborescent, arborical, woody, grassy, verdant, verdurous, floral, mossy, lignous, ligneous, wooden, leguminous, vosky, cespitose, turf-like, turfy, endogenous, exogenous, green-robed senators of mighty woods, this is the forest primeval.

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