bulrush

American  

[bool-ruhsh] / ˈbʊlˌrʌʃ /

noun

1. (in Biblical use) the papyrus, Cyperus papyrus.

2. any of various rushes of the genera Scirpus and Typha.

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bulrush British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of bulrush

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

Explanation

A bulrush is a very tall plant that grows in wetlands. Another name for a bulrush is a cattail. If you hike near a marsh, you may see bulrushes poking up above the other grasses growing there. A bulrush tends to have a long, rounded seed head at its very top, and wide, strong leaves that can be used for weaving. The noun bulrush combines rush, "plant growing in marshy ground," with bul or bull, most likely used in the sense of "very large or coarse," as in the word bullfrog.

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 • Aug. 22, 2024

Black bass are good near bulrush on worms, jigs, crankbaits, and topwater.

From Washington Times • Sep. 30, 2020

The lake was layered with sweet flag, sedge, lilies, horehound, bulrush and buckbean.

From New York Times • Oct. 21, 2016

On seeing Mr Blair's cover photograph she began to sniffle: "He was so full of promise," she said, "And look at him now, he's a broken bulrush in the River Nile of life."

From The Guardian • Sep. 3, 2010

Sedges and ferns and graceful bulrush would be planted on the banks of the Wooded Island to conjure density and intricacy and “to slightly screen, without hiding, flowers otherwise likely to be too obtrusive.”

From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson