meadow foxtail
- noun
:
pata de gallo
- After the rainy season, meadow foxtail flourishes in the pastures across the countryside.
Examples
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Farmers prefer meadow foxtail because it provides an early source of hay in the spring.
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The meadow foxtail is a common sight in many fields.
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The meadow foxtail is often used as fodder for cattle in temperate climates.
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Farmers often plant meadow foxtails for better pasture.
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The farmer planted meadow foxtail in the fields to improve the quality of the pasture.
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During the summer, the meadow foxtail sways gently in the breeze, adding beauty to the landscape.
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Cows love to graze on the meadow foxtail, as it provides them with nutritious food.
Synonyms
A grass that lives many years with soft flower spikes, grown for pasture and hay
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is directly descriptive: 'meadow' (grassland used for hay/grazing) combined with 'foxtail' (a type of grass with silky flowering spikes) yields a foxtail grass found in meadows. This noun–noun plant-naming pattern is regular and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer the meaning.
Etymology
Meadow foxtail gets its name from its soft, long flower spikes that stand up in fields and look like a fox's tail. So the words meadow and foxtail give a simple picture of a grass found in meadows and used for 'pasture' and 'hay'.
