TUSSOCK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Tussock

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noun

Tussock n. (Written also tussuck)

A tuft, as of grass, twigs, hair, or the like; especially, a dense tuft or bunch of grass or sedge. "Such laying of the hair in tussocks and tufts."

(Bot.) Same as Tussock grass, below.

(Zool.) A caterpillar of any one of numerous species of bombycid moths. The body of these caterpillars is covered with hairs which form long tufts or brushes. Some species are very injurious to shade and fruit trees. Called also tussock caterpillar. See Orgyia.

Tussock grass. (Bot.)

(a)

A tall, strong grass of the genus Dactylis (Dactylis caespitosa), valuable for fodder, introduced into Scotland from the Falkland Islands.

(b)

A tufted grass (Aira caespitosa).

(c)

Any kind of sedge (Carex) which forms dense tufts in a wet meadow or boggy place.

Tussock moth (Zool.), the imago of any tussock caterpillar. They belong to Orgyia, Halecidota, and allied genera.

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Etymology of 'Tussock'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Tussock" Quotes from Famous Books

... had no long-legged hound to dart off after the longer-eared animal; and the hare started from its form in some dry tussock grass, went off with its soft fur streaked to its sides with the heavy dew, and was ...

— The Weathercock - Being the Adventures of a Boy with a Bias • George Manville Fenn

... the romancer's imagination. So there he wrote and wrote; and he walked far along the sands, with his boy dogging his steps and stopping for shells and crabs; and at a certain point of the beach, where the waves ran over a bar and formed a lake a few feet in depth, he would seat himself on a tussock of sand-grass, and I would undress and run into the cold water and continue my swimming-lessons, which had been begun in Stockbridge Bowl, continued in Lake Leman, and were now brought to a satisfactory conclusion. Both my feet were ...

— Hawthorne and His Circle • Julian Hawthorne

... the worse, although he ought to have been. He moved about very cautiously, feeling his way with a stick from tussock to tussock of reedy grass, wondering why his eight brothers had never thought of taking off the fairy ...

— Tell Me Another Story - The Book of Story Programs • Carolyn Sherwin Bailey

Words linked to "Tussock" : wisp, coma, tussock bellflower, hexenbesen, clump, staghead, witch broom, bunch, tussock caterpillar, plumed tussock