marsh
UK /mɑːʃ/ · US /mɑɹʃ/ noun, proper noun
Forms marshes
- noun An area of low, wet land, often with tall grass or herbaceous plants. “Many animals live in the marsh.”
- proper noun A topographic surname from Middle English for someone living by a marsh.
- proper noun A hamlet in Great and Little Kimble cum Marsh parish, Buckinghamshire, previously in Wycombe district (OS grid ref SP8109).
- proper noun A small village in Yarcombe parish, East Devon district, Devon (OS grid ref ST2510).
- proper noun A small suburb of Oxenhope, City of Bradford, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SE0235).
- proper noun A suburb of Cleckheaton, Kirklees borough, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SE1925).
- proper noun A western suburb of Huddersfield, Kirklees borough, West Yorkshire (OS grid ref SE1217).
- proper noun A township in Surry County, North Carolina, United States.
- proper noun A township in Barnes County, North Dakota, United States.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English mersch, from Old English mersċ, merisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *marisk, derived from *mari, equivalent to mere (“sea, body of water”) + -ish. Doublet of marish, morass, and merse. Cognate with West Frisian mersk, Dutch meers (“grassland, meadow”) and Dutch moeras, German Marsch. More at mere.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A tract of soft wet land, commonly covered partially or wholly with water; a fen; a swamp; a morass. [Written also marish.] Marsh asphodel (Bot.), a plant (Nartheeium ossifragum) with linear equitant leaves, and a raceme of small white flowers; --called also bog asphodel.
Etymology [OE. mersch, AS. mersc, fr. mere lake. See Mere pool, and cf. Marish, Morass.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “marsh”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details