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Glite Dictionary
ricegrass

ricegrass

8.2
A grass with seeds like small grains that grows in dry places in North America
  • noun
  • /ˈraɪsˌɡræs/
  • US
translation icon : pasto de arroz
  • Some Native Americans who lived in the Great Basin used ricegrass seed for food.
  • Indian ricegrass

Examples

  • "Some Native Americans who lived in the Great Basin," says Jones, "used ricegrass seed for food."

    Academic text (2000)

  • First thing, she needed to find a stand of ricegrass.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • A few years back, she sent us a couple of packs of ricegrass seed when things were a little bleak.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • That lowers the cost of producing seed and opens the door to wider use of Indian ricegrass in the West.

    Academic text (2000)

  • We drove through ground swells of dunes tied down at their edges by rabbit brush and ricegrass.

    Academic text (2007)

  • Indian ricegrasses that retain seed longer are desirable because their seed has a better chance of staying on the plant until harvest instead of dropping to the ground.

    Academic text (2000)

  • A perennial bunchgrass, Indian ricegrass ranges from the western Great Plains west to the Cascades and the Sierra Nevada, according to Logan plant geneticist Thomas A. Jones.

    Academic text (2000)

  • We drove through ground swells of dunes tied down at their edges by rabbit brush and ricegrass.

  • A perennial bunchgrass, ricegrass is known for its grain-like seeds and tolerance of dry environments.

Synonyms

rice grass
vsricegrass
  • Specialized
7.5

A long-lived grass like wild rice that grows in North America and is eaten by animals

is about grasses with grainlike seeds and tolerance of dry habitats
Oryzopsis
vsricegrass
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of grass plants like rice that grow in North America and Asia

is narrower and applies to North American grasses with grainlike seeds and drought tolerance

Surface Forms

ricegrass singular
ricegrasses plural

Morphology

ricegrass = rice + grass (transparent) = rice + grass

The compound denotes a grass with rice-like seeds and the relation 'rice + grass = a grass resembling rice' is directly inferable.

Etymology

Ricegrass is simply a combination of rice and grass. It was named because its seeds look like tiny rice grains, so the word tells you it is a grass with 'grain-like' seeds that often grows in dry places.