Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various herbs of the genus Vicia of the pea family, having pinnately compound leaves that terminate in tendrils and small, variously colored flowers.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A plant of the genus Vicia; the tare.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) Any leguminous plant of the genus Vicia, some species of which are valuable for fodder. The common species is
Vicia sativa .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
leguminous plants, of the genusVicia , often grown asgreen manure and for their edibleseeds .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun any of various climbing plants of the genus Vicia having pinnately compound leaves that terminate in tendrils and small variously colored flowers; includes valuable forage and soil-building plants
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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For the Latins call a vetch Cicer, and a nick or dent at the tip of his nose, which resembled the opening in a vetch, gave him the surname of
The Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Plutarch 2003
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For the Latins call a vetch Cicer, and a nick or dent at the tip of his nose, which resembled the opening in a vetch, gave him the surname of Cicero.
Cicero Plutarch 1909
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For the Latins call a vetch Cicer, and a nick or dent at the tip of his nose, which resembled the opening in a vetch, gave him the surname of Cicero.
The Boys' and Girls' Plutarch; being parts of the "Lives" of Plutarch, edited for boys and girls 46-120? Plutarch 1884
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Here we found a small quantity of the little pea-vetch, which is such excellent food for the camels.
Australia Twice Traversed, Illustrated, Ernest Giles 1866
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In the woody part of the island grows a vetch, that is green all the winter, and a great support for horses and cattle, though it is to be feared the hogs will root it all up.
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Cicero, who was so called from the founder of his family, that was marked on the nose with a little wen like a vetch, which is _Cicer_ in Latin, instead of Marcus
Essays and Tales Joseph Addison 1695
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My father came in soon after, and when he heard so much of the story as I had told Mistress Pennyquick he drew his fingers through his beard and said in his quiet way: "To be sure, barrels were not made for that kind of vetch!"
Humphrey Bold A Story of the Times of Benbow Herbert Strang
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Now, in its place, I have a vast area of some kind of creeping yellow vetch which is green compared to the grass and covered in little flowers.
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February, and then often sow 'teff,' but more frequently a kind of vetch or pea, called Shimbra; these are cut down before the first rains, which are in April; yet with all the advantages of a triple harvest, which requires neither manure nor any expensive processes, the farmer in Abyssinia is always very poor. "
Celebrated Travels and Travellers Part 2. The Great Navigators of the Eighteenth Century Jules Verne 1866
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Rushing streams overflow their banks in summer, watering the meadows where a young Lev Tolstoy wandered, botanical primer in hand, picking out the . . . red, white, and pink scented tufty clover; milk-white ox-eye daisies with their bright yellow centers and pleasant spicy smell; yellow honey-scented rape blossoms; tall campanulas with white and lilac bells, tulip-shaped; creeping vetch . . .
The Return Daniel Treisman 2011
arby commented on the word vetch
I hate this word, it reminds me of retch.
July 25, 2007
yarb commented on the word vetch
Used in the name of Swansea City's former football ground, the Vetch Field.
November 13, 2007