Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: SPARROWGRASS |
SPARROWGRASSNoun1. Asparagus. |
Note: Sparrowgrass \Spar"row*grass`\, noun. [Corrupted from asparagus.]. (Websters 1913) |
| Domain | Definition |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Sparrowgrass, Asparagus. The word sparrowgrass, which is a corruption of the word asparagus, illustrates how readily the uneducated mind associates an unusual term with another that is familiar, and as the mental impression is received through the ear, and lacks that definiteness which the printed form would give, the new idea, when repeated, often assumes a picturesque, if not a ludicrous, form. Many of Mrs. Partington's quaint sayings furnish further illustration. The following incident, from a Western paper, shows the successive stages in the farmer's mental operations from the familiar terms skin, hide, oxhide, up to the unfamiliar chemical term oxide, through which he was obliged to pass before he succeeded in making known his wants: The man was in a brown study when he went into the drug store. "What can we do for you?" inquired the clerk. "I want black-- something of something," he said; "have you got any?" "Probably we have," replied the clerk, "but you'll have to be more definite than that to get it." The farmer thought for a moment. "Got any black sheepskin of something?" he asked. "No; we don't keep sheepskins. We have chamois-skins, though." "That ain't it, I know," said the customer. "Got any other kind of skins?" "No." "Skins-- skins-- skins!" slowly repeated the man, struggling with his slippery memory. "Calfskin seems to be something like it. Got any black calfskins of anything?" "No, not one," and the clerk laughed. The customer grew red in the face. "Confound it!" he said, "if it ain't a skin, what in thunder is it?" "Possibly it's a hide?" suggested the clerk. "That's it! That's it!" exclaimed the man. "Have you got any black hides of something or anything?" The clerk shook his head sadly as the man tramped up and down the store. "Got any black cowhide of anything?" he asked, after a moment's thought. The clerk's face showed a gleam of intelligence, and then broke into a smile. "Possibly it's black oxide of manganese you want?" he said, quietly. "Of course, that's it!" he exclaimed, as he threw his arms around the clerk's neck. "I knowed blamed well there was a skin or hide or something somewhere about the thing," and he calmed down quietly and waited for what he wanted. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Crosswords: SPARROWGRASS |
| English words defined with "SPARROWGRASS": Asparagus racemosus. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "SPARROWGRASS": Asparagus ♦ Very Vulgar Vulgarisms. (references) |
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "SPARROWGRASS" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "SPARROWGRASS" is used about 2 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 100% | 2 | 245,945 |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
sparrowgrass | 26 |
herb sparrowgrass | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "SPARROWGRASS"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Turkish | kuşkonmaz (asparagus). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-g-o-p-r-r-r-s-s-s-w" | |
-4 letters: sapsagos, sargasso, sparrows. | |
-5 letters: sapsago, sarsars, sparrow. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Usage Frequency | 5. Expressions: Internet 6. Translations: Modern 7. Anagrams 8. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
