Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Either of two tough, wiry grasses (Stipa tenacissima or Lygeum spartum) of northern Africa and southern Europe, yielding fiber used in making paper and as cordage.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A name given to two or three species of grass, the Macrochloa (Stipa) tenacissima, M. arenaria, and Lygeum Spartum of botanists, and especially to the first, which is abundant in northern Africa.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A species of Spanish grass (
Macrochloa tenacissima ), of which cordage, shoes, baskets, etc., are made. It is also used for making paper.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
perennial North African grass , Stipa tenacissima, used forfibre production, and for makingpaper .
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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Kingdom the conditions of its competition are of a more special kind by reason of the firm foothold of esparto, which is a most important staple in the manufacture of fine printings.
Researches on Cellulose 1895-1900 C. F. Cross
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Its economic prospects could hardly be called promising; in the years after World War II, its leading exports were two: esparto, a type of grass used to make paper for currency bills, and scrap metal scavenged from the rusting tanks and trucks and weaponry that had been left behind by the Axis and Allied Armies.
The Prize Daniel Yergin 2008
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Its economic prospects could hardly be called promising; in the years after World War II, its leading exports were two: esparto, a type of grass used to make paper for currency bills, and scrap metal scavenged from the rusting tanks and trucks and weaponry that had been left behind by the Axis and Allied Armies.
The Prize Daniel Yergin 2008
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Paper itself was also becoming less expensive because of a combination of improved manufacturing at paper mills and the use of less expensive raw materials such as esparto grass.
Grand Theft Childhood Lawrence Kutner 2008
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Paper itself was also becoming less expensive because of a combination of improved manufacturing at paper mills and the use of less expensive raw materials such as esparto grass.
Grand Theft Childhood Lawrence Kutner 2008
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The strips of esparto-grass with which the doors were closed, beat against the walls.
Salammbo 2003
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A naked sword leaned against a stool by the side of a shield; whips of hippopotamus leather, cymbals, bells, and necklaces were displayed pell-mell on baskets of esparto-grass; a felt rug lay soiled with crumbs of black bread; some copper money was carelessly heaped upon
Salammbo 2003
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As to the pay of the Mercenaries it nearly filled two esparto-grass baskets; there were even visible in one of them some of the leathern discs which the Republic used to economise its specie; and as the Barbarians appeared greatly surprised, Hanno told them that, their accounts being very difficult, the Ancients had not had leisure to examine them.
Salammbo 2003
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Why, I would not use esparto for my bed, even though I had nothing but bands of rushes.
The Birds 2000
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A small group of vigiles appeared from behind the Baths of Agrippa, on the far side of her, now sensibly holding esparto mats in front of them.
Two For The Lions Davis, Lindsey 1998
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