Definition of 'bulrush'

Word Frequency

bulrush in British

(ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ )

noun

a grasslike cyperaceous marsh plant, Scirpus lacustris, used for making mats, chair seats, etc

2. a popular name for reed mace (sense 1)

3. a biblical word for papyrus (sense 1)

Word origin of 'bulrush'

C15 bulrish, bul- perhaps from bull1 + rish rush2, referring to the largeness of the plant; sense 2 derived from the famous painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), Dutch-born English painter, of the finding of the infant Moses in the "bulrushes" — actually reed mace

Word Frequency

bulrush in American

(ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ ; boolˈrushˌ)

noun

any of a number of marsh plants (genus Scirpus) of the sedge family, having slender, round or triangular, solid stems tipped with brown spikelets of minute flowers

2. British

the cattail

3. Popularly

any aquatic plant resembling a bulrush, as the papyrus

Word origin of 'bulrush'

ME bulryshe < bol, stem (see bole1) + rusche, rush2

Example sentences containing 'bulrush'

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Grinko was our schoolteacher, a tall man, tall as a bulrush and as mild, with a neat white beard. Aldiss, Brian SOMEWHERE EAST OF LIFE

Trends of 'bulrush'

Used Rarely. bulrush is in the lower 50% of commonly used words in the Collins dictionary

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Nearby words of 'bulrush'

Related Terms of 'bulrush'

Source

Definition of bulrush from the Collins English Dictionary

Demonstratives

Demonstratives are used to specify the distance of something in space or time in relation to the speaker. The demonstratives are: this, that, these, those. This and these refer to objects near the s...