crab grass
- noun
- /kræb ɡræs/
:
pasto cangrejo
Examples
-
Next year, the crab grass won't be allowed to germinate.
Academic text (1997) -
The little point of straggling crab grass and rock was littered with bits of rubbish, a discarded fishing net, and some rusty hooks.
Fiction book (1994) -
Homeowners often struggle to keep their lawns healthy due to the presence of crab grass, which tends to take over.
-
Next year, I plan to apply preventative measures so that crab grass doesn't sprout in my garden.
-
To maintain a beautiful yard, you must regularly remove crab grass before it can spread.
Synonyms
5
3.4
A common lawn weed with stems that grow along the ground and root easily
Surface Forms
Morphology
crab + grass
The compound clearly denotes a kind of grass, so a learner who knows 'grass' will infer it's a plant type; however the role of 'crab' is metaphorical (referring to a creeping, sideways habit) and the additional sense of a weedy, rooting grass is not directly predictable from the constituents. Because the specific morphological behavior and negative connotation as a lawn weed require lexical/cultural knowledge beyond the literal words, this is best classed as partially transparent.
Etymology
Crab grass may come from how the plant grows: long stems creep sideways like a crab, and each stem takes root to make more grass. That's why the name refers to a common 'weed' that quickly spreads across lawns.