mat-rush, noun
- Origin:
- English, South African DutchShow more Perhaps transferred use of English mat-rush a name for the bulrush Scirpus lacustris; or coined in this country, influenced by South African Dutch matjesgoederen (see quotation 1856).
obs.
matjiesgoed.
1822 W.J. Burchell Trav. I. 401Our guides..brought me..to a part of the river where the mat-rush grew in great abundance.
1856 L. Pappe in Cape of G.H. Almanac & Annual Register 324Cyperus textilis...A rush 2 or 3 feet high, which grows in marshy localities and in the beds of rivulets. From it baskets and mats are manufactured by the natives who call it mat-rush (matjesgoed).
Chrome
Firefox
Internet Explorer
Safari