Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A southwest Asian perennial herb (Medicago sativa) in the pea family, having compound leaves with three leaflets and clusters of usually blue-violet flowers. It is widely cultivated as a pasture and hay crop.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The Spanish name of lucerne, Medicago sativa, and the common name under which the chief varieties of lucerne are known in the western United States.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The lucern (
Medicago sativa ), a leguminous plant having bluish purple cloverlike flowers, and cultivated for fodder; -- so called in California, Texas, etc.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable A
plant , Medicago sativa, grown as apasture crop . - noun countable A
type orbreed of this plant.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop
- noun leguminous plant grown for hay or forage
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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It will probably be news to most readers that alfalfa -- the wonderful forage crop of the West, the producer of more gold than all the mines of the Klondike -- was in use so long ago, for the impression is pretty general that it is comparatively new; the fact is that it is older than the Christian era and that the name alfalfa comes from the Arabic and means "the best crop."
George Washington: Farmer Paul Leland Haworth
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It will probably be news to most readers that alfalfa ” the wonderful forage crop of the West, the producer of more gold than all the mines of the Klondike ” was in use so long ago, for the impression is pretty general that it is comparatively new; the fact is that it is older than the Christian era and that the name alfalfa comes from the Arabic and means “the best crop.”
George Washington Farmer Haworth, Paul L 1915
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There are several food plot seeds that are perennial, alfalfa is perennial.
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Riparian corridors along river bottoms may hold lots of whitetails, which raid nearby farmland planted in alfalfa, sunflower, soybeans and corn.
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In related out these video clips of Ruth Rogan Benerito, "pioneer in alfalfa breeding and genetics", and Janice M. Miller, who discovered the virus causing bovine leukemia, from their induction into the Agricultural Research Service Hall of Fame.
Archive 2007-01-01 Peggy 2007
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SMN - its called alfalfa only as far as I know...you'll find it in the greens / sprouts section of your supermarket - the wikipedia link will show you pictures of the sprouts.
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Beds that you find in alfalfa and clover fields, abandoned orchards, oak flats, and other prime open feeding areas were made after dark.
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The company said the recalled alfalfa sprouts were sold in plastic cups and plastic bags under the Caldwell Fresh Foods brand, plastic cups under the Nature's Choice brand and plastic containers under the California Fresh Exotics brand.
Alfalfa Sprouts Recall In 18 States: Salmonella Sickens 23 2010
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A California company is recalling alfalfa sprouts after 22 people in 10 states became sickened with Salmonella Newport.
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A California company is recalling alfalfa sprouts after 22 people in 10 states became sickened with Salmonella Newport.
frangarnes commented on the word alfalfa
mielga común que se cultiva para forraje
October 23, 2007
oroboros commented on the word alfalfa
According to Chris Cole in Wordplay, the longest common word from the middle row of a typewriter.
June 1, 2008
mollusque commented on the word alfalfa
Alfalfa and entente are apparently the only seven English letter words where the first four letters are the same as the last four letters.
June 23, 2009
rlvoyer commented on the word alfalfa
Watch out for listeria and salmonella.
November 22, 2011
bilby commented on the word alfalfa
You're more likely to die of hysteria than listeria, sport.
November 23, 2011
Wordplayer commented on the word alfalfa
Alfalfa must have a lot of good reputation as a wordplaying word.
November 23, 2011
Wordplayer commented on the word alfalfa
And, according to the Twitter links to the right, alfalfa relieves constipation.
November 23, 2011