Word Study
heather
CIDE DICTIONARY
heather, n. [See Heath.].
Heath. [1913 Webster]
"Gorse and grass
And heather, where his footsteps pass,
The brighter seem." [1913 Webster]
And heather, where his footsteps pass,
The brighter seem." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
heather, n.
1 an evergreen shrub, Calluna vulgaris, with purple bell-shaped flowers.
2 any of various shrubs of the genus Erica or Daboecia, growing esp. on moors and heaths.
1 an evergreen shrub, Calluna vulgaris, with purple bell-shaped flowers.
2 any of various shrubs of the genus Erica or Daboecia, growing esp. on moors and heaths.
Idiom
heather mixture
1 a fabric of mixed hues supposed to resemble heather.
2 the colour of this.
1 a fabric of mixed hues supposed to resemble heather.
2 the colour of this.
Derivative
heathery adj.
Etymology
ME, Sc., & N.Engl. hathir etc., of unkn. orig.: assim. to heath
ROGET THESAURUS
heather
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.For further exploring for "heather" in Webster Dictionary Online