bulrush

[ bool-ruhsh ]

noun

1. (in Biblical use) the papyrus, Cyperus papyrus.
2. any of various rushes of the genera Scirpus and Typha.

bulrush

/ ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ /

noun

1. a grasslike cyperaceous marsh plant, Scirpus lacustris , used for making mats, chair seats, etc
2. a popular name for reed mace
3. a biblical word for papyrus

Word History and Origins

Origin of bulrush¹

1400–50; late Middle English bulrish papyrus, probably bull ¹ + rish rush ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of bulrush¹

C15 bulrish, bul- perhaps from bull ¹+ rish rush ², referring to the largeness of the plant; sense 2 derived from the famous painting by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (1836–1912), Dutch-born English painter, of the finding of the infant Moses in the "bulrushes" — actually reed mace

Example Sentences

Families and friends fish together on the lake’s banks and its fishing piers, casting poles through the California bulrush.

From Los Angeles Times

Inundating the land, and allowing the ancient bulrushes and cattails to return—or potentially cultivating rice—would stop those emissions immediately, and even store carbon as new plants grow.

From Scientific American

She walked through the bulrushes and cordgrass to the very edge of the marsh’s waterline.

From Literature

By the time my mother passed at age 100, there was only one item left in her apartment that she cherished — a huge framed needlepoint tapestry of Moses in the bulrushes hovering over her bed.

From New York Times

Sequestered in a small woven basket opened by a fleshy cluster of women, young and voluptuous or old and weathered, the pagan infant is a veritable Moses plucked from the bulrushes.

From Los Angeles Times