Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A spiny shrub (Sarcobatus vermiculatus) of western North America, having small alternate leaves, white stems, and small greenish flowers.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of various low shrubs prevalent in saline localities in the dry valleys of the western United States. They are mostly chenopodiaceous, of the genera Sarcobatus, Grayia, Atriplex, Spirostachys, etc.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A low hardy much-branched spiny shrub (
Sarcobatus vermiculatus ) common in alkaline soils of Western America.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several spiny
shrubs containing oil, of the genus Sarcobatus, native to theUnited States . - noun
Chamise .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun low hardy much-branched spiny shrub common in alkaline soils of western America
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word greasewood.
Examples
-
Creosote (Larrea tridentata), also known as greasewood, is the most common shrub in three of the four north American deserts.
Tucson Citizen wryheat 2010
-
We call it "pitch-pine". similar to the south's "greasewood" You can tell the pitch-pine by the aroma.
-
We call it "pitch-pine". similar to the south's "greasewood" You can tell the pitch-pine by the aroma.
-
The plant is that locally known as "greasewood" (Scarobatus vermiculatus). —
Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806 1904
-
There is not a tree of any kind in the deserts, for hundreds of miles -- there is no vegetation at all in a regular desert, except the sage-brush and its cousin the "greasewood," which is so much like the sage-brush that the difference amounts to little.
Roughing It 1871
-
"greasewood," which is so much like the sage-brush that the difference amounts to little.
Roughing It Mark Twain 1872
-
"greasewood," which is so much like the sage-brush that the difference amounts to little.
Roughing It, Part 1. Mark Twain 1872
-
Today, in the summer twilight at Bird Cloud, the greasewood and rabbitbrush hunch themselves into giant marmots, crippled elk.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
-
Cottonwoods along the rivers made the tallest vegetative layer, and on the surrounding prairies grew shoulder-high sage and greasewood, punctuated by the bunchgrasses close to the ground.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
-
Today, in the summer twilight at Bird Cloud, the greasewood and rabbitbrush hunch themselves into giant marmots, crippled elk.
Bird Cloud Annie Proulx 2011
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.