bul·rush

(bo͝ol′rŭsh′)

1. Any of various aquatic or wetland sedges chiefly of the genus Scirpus, having grasslike leaves and usually clusters of small, often brown spikelets.

2. Any of several wetland plants of similar aspect, such as the papyrus and the cattail.

[Middle English bulrish : perhaps alteration (influenced by bule, bull) of bole, stem; see bole¹ + rish, rush; see rush².]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

bulrush

(ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ)

1. (Plants) a grasslike cyperaceous marsh plant, Scirpus lacustris, used for making mats, chair seats, etc

2. (Plants) a popular name for reed mace¹

3. (Bible) a biblical word for papyrus¹

[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]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bul•rush

(ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ)

n.

1. papyrus (def. 1).

2. any of various rushes of the genera Scirpus, of the sedge family, and Typha, of the cattail family.

3. cattail.

[1400–50; late Middle English bulrish papyrus]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	bulrush - tall marsh plant with cylindrical seed heads that explode when mature shedding large quantities of down; its long flat leaves are used for making mats and chair seats; of North America, Europe, Asia and North Africa bullrush, cat's-tail, nailrod, reed mace, reedmace, Typha latifolia cattail - tall erect herbs with sword-shaped leaves; cosmopolitan in fresh and salt marshes
	2.	bulrush - tall rush with soft erect or arching stems found in Eurasia, Australia, New Zealand, and common in North America common rush, Juncus effusus, soft rush, bullrush rush - grasslike plants growing in wet places and having cylindrical often hollow stems genus Juncus, Juncus - type genus of the Juncaceae; perennial tufted glabrous marsh plants of temperate regions: rushes

Translations

الدّيس: عُشْبَةٌ مائِيَّه

rákos

Wasserbinse

jonc

skúfgras; sef

giunco

meldas

meldrs

hasır otusaz

宽叶香蒲芦苇

bulrush

[ˈbʊlrʌʃ] N → espadaña f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bulrush

n → Rohrkolben m; in the bulrushes → im Schilfrohr

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bulrush

[ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ] n → stiancia

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

bulrush

(ˈbulraʃ) noun

a tall strong water plant.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Above, the sky would be of a cold blue colour, save for a fringe of flame-coloured streaks on the horizon that kept turning ever paler and paler; and when the moon had come out there would be wafted through the limpid air the sounds of a frightened bird fluttering, of a bulrush rubbing against its fellows in the gentle breeze, and of a fish rising with a splash.

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But don't move a step forward, or your life is not worth a bulrush.'

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The meaner sort are covered with mats which they make of a kind of bulrush, and are also indifferently tight and warm, but not so good as the former....

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I had crossed a marshy tract full of willows, bulrushes, and odd, outlandish, swampy trees; and I had now come out upon the skirts of an open piece of undulating, sandy country, about a mile long, dotted with a few pines and a great number of contorted trees, not unlike the oak in growth, but pale in the foliage, like willows.

All at once there began to go a sort of bustle among the bulrushes; a wild duck flew up with a quack, another followed, and soon over the whole surface of the marsh a great cloud of birds hung screaming and circling in the air.

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And again there are those who sit in their swamp, and speak thus from among the bulrushes: "Virtue--that is to sit quietly in the swamp.

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The cottage, built substantially of grey stone, stood upon the side of the slope, and a broad strip of garden, half cultivated and half wild, began near the house with cabbages, and ended in a jungle of giant bulrushes as it touched the stream.

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The river-horse couches there among the bulrushes, and on a great granite throne sits the God Memnon.

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There have been famous babes; for example, little Moses, from whose adventure in the bulrushes the Egyptian hierophants of seven centuries before doubtless derived their idle tale of the child Osiris being preserved on a floating lotus leaf.

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On the same island is still shown the spot where Pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bulrushes. Near the spot we sailed from, the Holy Family dwelt when they sojourned in Egypt till Herod should complete his slaughter of the innocents.

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It was the plunging of some small body in the water from among the neighboring bulrushes; if it was not a water-rat, Bob intimated that he was ready to undergo the most unpleasant consequences.

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The few neighbours of the Squire's own rank every now and then would shrug their shoulders as they drove or rode by a party of boys with Tom in the middle, carrying along bulrushes or whispering reeds, or great bundles of cowslip and meadow-sweet, or young starlings or magpies, or other spoil of wood, brook, or meadow; and Lawyer Red-tape might mutter to Squire Straight-back at the Board that no good would come of the young Browns, if they were let run wild with all the dirty village boys, whom the best farmers' sons even would not play with.

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