Word Study
fiddlehead
CIDE DICTIONARY
fiddlehead, n.
- any of several tall ferns of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes. [WordNet 1.5]
- New World fern (
Osmunda cinnamonea ) having woolly cinnamon-colored spore-bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds, called alsofiddlehead fern ; the early uncurling fronds are edible, and sometimes considered as a vegetable delicacy. [WordNet 1.5] - an ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin. Sometimes it serves the function of a billhead. [1913 Webster]
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