shortgrass

[ shawrt-gras, -grahs ]

noun

1. any of several range grasses of short stature, as buffalo grass, prevalent in semiarid regions of the Great Plains.

Word History and Origins

Origin of shortgrass¹

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45; short + grass

Example Sentences

A U.S. nonprofit group is working to restore the shortgrass prairie, where bison and their ecosystem could again thrive as they once did.

From New York Times

More than 300 species of birds live in or migrate throughout the shortgrass prairie here, nourished by a diversity of insects that may thrive in part by the ways that bison wallow.

From New York Times

Each autumn in southeast Colorado, hordes of fuzzy, fist-sized male tarantulas emerge from their burrows to scour the shortgrass prairie for mates.

From Los Angeles Times

Scientists, nature enthusiasts and that rare subspecies of humanity obsessed with spiders all come to witness something remarkable: hordes of fuzzy, fist-sized male tarantulas emerging from their burrows to scour the shortgrass prairie for mates.

From Los Angeles Times

The new expansion also will preserve what Haaland called one of the largest intact shortgrass prairie ecosystems within the National Park system.

From Washington Times