■ noun
1》 a tall, slender-leaved plant of the grass family, growing in water or on marshy ground. [Genera Phragmites and Arundo : several species.]
↘used in names of similar plants growing in wet habitats, e.g. bur-~ .
2》 a tall, thin, straight stalk of a ~, used especially for thatching.
↘ Brit. straw for thatching.
↘ literary a rustic musical pipe made from ~s or straw.
3》 a piece of thin cane or metal which vibrates in a current of air to produce the sound of various musical instruments, as in the mouthpiece of a clarinet or at the base of some organ pipes.
↘a wind instrument played with a ~.
4》 (also broken ~ ) a weak or impressionable person.
5》 literary an arrow.
6》 a weaver's comb-like implement for separating the warp and positioning the weft.
7》 ( ~s ) a set of semi-cylindrical adjacent mouldings like ~s laid together.
8》 an electrical contact in a magnetically operated switch or relay.
Derivatives
~ed adjective
Origin
OE hrēod , of W. Gmc origin.