barn millet
- noun
- Because barn millet grows quickly, it can become a troublesome weed in cultivated fields.
Examples
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Some farmers harvest barn millet as a low-cost source of hay.
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The cattle grazed freely on the field of barn millet during the summer months.
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Farmers often struggle with barn millet in their fields.
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The barn millet grows quickly in warm weather.
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Because barn millet grows quickly, it can become a troublesome weed in cultivated fields.
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The cattle grazed freely on the field of barn millet during the summer months.
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Some farmers harvest barn millet as a low-cost source of hay.
Synonyms
A coarse grass that grows each year as a common weed worldwide and is sometimes used for animal feed
A common weed grass that farmers sometimes cut for hay or feed animals
A common wild grass that grows in wet farm fields and that animals sometimes eat
A rough grass people grow each year for its seeds and animal feed
A rough grass that grows in dry places and is grown for grain and animal feed
A coarse grass grown each year for grain and to feed animals
A grass grown for its seeds and animal feed
A plant with yellow grains and large hanging seed heads grown for food and animal feed
A small grain plant grown for food and animal feed
A grass that grows once a year for its grain and is used as animal feed
A rough grass grown each year for grain or animal feed that grows well in dry soil
A tall grass with thick round seed heads that farmers grow for grain and animal food
A tall grass grown in dry areas for its edible grain, animal feed, and brewing
A tall grass grown for grain used for food, animal feed and making beer
A grass with orange to red grains on long rough spikes grown for animal feed
A grass that grows in dry areas and farmers grow for animal feed or grain
A plant that grows in dry regions and has seeds used to make a somewhat bitter flour
An annual grass grown for hay in the southern United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'millet' names a small-seeded grass and 'barn' modifies it to indicate a variety or millet associated with farms/storage, so a B1 learner can infer it refers to a kind of coarse grass used/found around barns for hay or grazing. This place/modifier + noun pattern is regular in English and cross-linguistically common, making the MWE transparent from its constituents.
Etymology
Barn millet may come from the sight of rough millet growing beside a farm's barn, where farmers used it as cheap 'hay' or left it as a 'weed'. So the name now means a coarse grass often used for 'hay' or seen as a 'weed'.