tus·sock

(tŭs′ək)

A clump or tuft, as of growing grass.

[Origin unknown.]

tus′sock·y adj.

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.

tussock

(ˈtʌsək)

1. (Botany) a dense tuft of vegetation, esp of grass

2. (Plants)

a. short for tussock grass

b. the tussock country where tussock grass grows

[C16: perhaps related to tusk]

ˈtussocky adj

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

tus•sock

(ˈtʌs ək)

n.

a tuft or clump of growing grass or the like.

[1540–50; appar. akin to Middle High German zūsach thicket, derivative of zūse lock (of hair), brushwood. See -ock]

tus′socked, adj.

tus•sock•y, adj.

Tussock

a tuft; a small cluster.

Examples: tussock of long grass, 1607; of hair, 1550; of leaves, 1783; of thorns, 1681; of twigs.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

tussock - a bunch of hair or feathers or growing grass

tuft

bunch, clump, cluster, clustering - a grouping of a number of similar things; "a bunch of trees"; "a cluster of admirers"

wisp - a small tuft or lock; "wisps of hair"

hexenbesen, staghead, witch broom, witches' broom - an abnormal tufted growth of small branches on a tree or shrub caused by fungi or insects or other physiological disturbance

coma - (botany) a usually terminal tuft of bracts (as in the pineapple) or tuft of hairs (especially on certain seeds)

Translations

ciuffo

graspolpol

tussock

[ˈtʌsək] N → mata f (de hierba)

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

tussock

[ˈtʌsək] n → touffe f de hautes herbes

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

tussock

n → (Gras)büschel nt

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

tussock

[ˈtʌsək] n → ciuffo d'erba

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

As he went along, then, occupied with these thoughts, he perceived on the summit of a height that rose before their eyes a man who went springing from rock to rock and from tussock to tussock with marvellous agility.

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Suddenly from a lumpy tussock of old grass some twenty yards in front of them, with black-tipped ears erect and long hinder limbs throwing it forward, started a hare.

View in context

There was no need, however, for him to move, for the twain came swiftly towards them until they were within a spear's length, when the man with the cross sat himself down sullenly upon a tussock of grass by the wayside, while the other stood beside him with his great cudgel still hanging over his head.

View in context

I feel like a novice lumbering through a bog in a midst, jumping from one tussock to another in the mere blind effort to move on without knowing where I am going."

View in context

When crawling, it may be said on four legs through the tussocks or on the side of a grassy cliff, it move so very quickly that it might easily be mistaken for a quadruped.

View in context

An Indian grazing ground is all rocks and scrub and tussocks and little ravines, among which the herds scatter and disappear.

View in context

Mowgli's wanderings had taken him to the edge of the high grassy downs of the Dekkan, and he had seen the fearless dholes sleeping and playing and scratching themselves in the little hollows and tussocks that they use for lairs.

View in context

Introduced fire resulted in loss of forest coverage and the expansion of tussock (bunch grass) grassland following Polynesian settlement around AD1280 (McWethy et al.

Soil aggregation and soil fraction associated carbon under different vegetation types in a complex landscape

class="MsoNormalAs we climbed higher, dense bamboo forest opened out to plains of tussock grass.

OUTABOUT: Deep in wonderful wilderness of the Aberdare Ranges

Limachi says the expansion of coca cultivation has helped to destroy other plants that provide a natural defence against the coca-leaf pests, particularly the Tussock Moth.

Coca pesticides posing threat to Bolivian bees

One piece on water pollution control in Southern California in 1947a"55 feels rather niche, whereas the study of herbicide use against Douglas Fir tussock moth caterpillars in the Pacific Northwest is written in a more engaging style than many of the rest.

Inevitably Toxic; Historical Perspectives on Contamination, Exposure, and Expertise