quick grass

7.5

A fast-spreading grass with creeping roots that grows as a weed

noun

Specialized

: hierba rápida

Quick grass is notoriously hard to remove from gardens because of its spreading roots.

Examples

The farmer struggled to control the quick grass invading his cornfields.
Many homeowners struggle with quick grasses in their lawns.
Quick grass is notoriously hard to remove from gardens because of its spreading roots.
Some herbicides are effective against quick grass, but manual removal is also necessary.
The garden was overrun with quick grass.
Some herbicides are effective against quick grass, but manual removal is also necessary.
The farmer struggled to control the quick grass invading his cornfields.

Synonyms

couch grass

vsquick grass

1 7.5

A European grass with long underground roots that spreads quickly and becomes a common weed

focuses more on how quickly it spreads rather than invasiveness

quackgrass

vsquick grass

9.9

A wild grass that spreads by underground stems and is hard to remove

is the alternate spelling or variant form of the same name

quack grass

vsquick grass

8.8

A common weed with long stems under the ground that spreads quickly through lawns

is the single word or other variant used for the same plant

Agropyron repens

vsquick grass

9.9

A fast-spreading European grass with long underground stems that is a common weed in gardens and fields

is the common English name rather than the scientific Latin term

dog grass

vsquick grass

8.4

A grass from Europe that spreads quickly by stems under the ground and is a weed in North America

is the other common English name often used instead

Surface Forms

quick grass singular

quick grasses plural

Morphology

quick + grass

The meaning 'a grass that grows or spreads quickly' is directly and transparently built from the adjective 'quick' (fast) modifying 'grass' (the plant), so the overall sense is compositional. This simple adjective+noun pattern is common across languages and standard in English, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Quick grass comes from the way the word quick describes the grass, which sends out long roots that run under the soil and quickly make new shoots. Here quick means 'fast' because the plants seem to 'move' and spread fast, so the name came to mean a 'fast-spreading weed'.