mead

n. [ OE. mede, AS. meodo; akin to D. mede, G. met, meth, OHG. metu, mitu, Icel. mjöðr, Dan. miöd, Sw. mjöd, Russ. med', Lith. midus, W. medd, Gr. me`qy wine, Skr. madhu honey, a sweet drink, as adj., sweet. √270. Cf. Metheglin. ] 1. A fermented drink made of water and honey with malt, yeast, etc.; metheglin; hydromel. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A drink composed of sirup of sarsaparilla or other flavoring extract, and water. It is sometimes charged with carbonic acid gas. [ U. S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. meady; akin to m&aemacr_;d, and to G. matte; prob. also to E. mow. See Mow to cut (grass), and cf. 2d Mead. ] 1. A tract of low or level land producing grass which is mown for hay; any field on which grass is grown for hay. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Low land covered with coarse grass or rank herbage near rives and in marshy places by the sea; as, the salt meadows near Newark Bay. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Of or pertaining to a meadow; of the nature of a meadow; produced, growing, or living in, a meadow. “Fat meadow ground.” Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ For many names of plants compounded with meadow, see the particular word in the Vocabulary. [ 1913 Webster ]

Meadow beauty. (Bot.) Same as Deergrass. --
Meadow foxtail (Bot.), a valuable pasture grass (Alopecurus pratensis) resembling timothy, but with softer spikes. --
Meadow hay, a coarse grass, or true sedge, growing in uncultivated swamp or river meadow; -- used as fodder or bedding for cattle, packing for ice, etc. [ Local, U. S. ] --
Meadow hen. (Zool.) (a) The American bittern. See Stake-driver. (b) The American coot (Fulica). (c) The clapper rail. --
Meadow mouse (Zool.), any mouse of the genus Arvicola, as the common American species Arvicola riparia; -- called also field mouse, and field vole. --
Meadow mussel (Zool.), an American ribbed mussel (Modiola plicatula), very abundant in salt marshes. --
Meadow ore (Min.), bog-iron ore , a kind of limonite. --
Meadow parsnip. (Bot.) See under Parsnip. --
Meadow pink. (Bot.) See under Pink. --
Meadow pipit (Zool.), a small singing bird of the genus Anthus, as Anthus pratensis, of Europe. --
Meadow rue (Bot.), a delicate early plant, of the genus Thalictrum, having compound leaves and numerous white flowers. There are many species. --
Meadow saffron. (Bot.) See under Saffron. --
Meadow sage. (Bot.) See under Sage. --
Meadow saxifrage (Bot.), an umbelliferous plant of Europe (Silaus pratensis), somewhat resembling fennel. --
Meadow snipe (Zool.), the common or jack snipe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Any of various grasses that thrive in the presence of abundant moisture, especially those of the genus Poa, common in meadows, and of great value for hay and for pasture. See Grass. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.), Any species of Sturnella, a genus of North American songbirds allied to the starlings. The common species (Sturnella magna) has a yellow breast with a black crescent.
Syn. -- lark. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

{ } n. (Bot.) The name of several plants of the genus Spiraea, especially the white- or pink-flowered Spiraea salicifolia, a low European and American shrub, and the herbaceous Spiraea Ulmaria, which has fragrant white flowers in compound cymes. [ 1913 Webster ]