herbage

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Middle French herbage and Old French erbage, from Medieval Latin herbaticum, from Latin herba (“grass”); alternatively, herb +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhəːbɪdʒ/

Noun

herbage (usually uncountable, plural herbages)

1. Herbs collectively.
2. Herbaceous plant growth, especially grass.
   • 1841, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘A Descent into the Maelström’:

     I threw myself upon my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an excess of nervous agitation.

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 97:

     The dank breath of herbage, sodden with rain, came to her; the mists were barely visible, hovering above the dark ravines.

3. The fleshy, often edible, parts of plants.
4. (law) The natural pasture of a land, considered as distinct from the land itself; hence, right of pasture (on another man's land).

Translations

herbs collectively

herbaceous plant growth, especially grass

• Maori: raurēkau

• Russian: травосто́й (ru) m (travostój)

fleshy, often edible, parts of plants

right of pasture

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French

Etymology

herbe +‎ -age. Or from Old French erbage, from Medieval Latin herbāticum, from Latin herba (“grass”).

Noun

herbage m (plural herbages)

1. pasture

Related terms

• herbe

Further reading

• “herbage” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).