reed
/ɹiːd/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of Reid
Forms reeds reeding reeded reede read
- noun (countable) Any of various types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.
- noun (countable) The hollow stem of these plants.
- noun (countable, music) Part of an aerophone musical instrument, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal, which vibrates to produce sound when air passes through it.
- noun (countable, weaving) A comb-like part of a beater for beating the weft when weaving.
- noun (countable, historical) A piece of whalebone or similar for stiffening the skirt or waist of a woman's dress.
- noun (uncountable, architecture) Reeding.
- noun (mining) A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
- noun Straw prepared for thatching a roof.
- verb (transitive) To thatch.
- verb To mill or mint with reeding.
- noun (UK, Scotland, dialect) The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet.
- proper noun A surname from Old English, a spelling variant of Reid.
- proper noun A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
- proper noun A village and civil parish in North Hertfordshire district, Hertfordshire, England (OS grid ref TL3636).
- proper noun A town in Desha County, Arkansas.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Henderson County, Kentucky.
- proper noun A township in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Freeman, Crawford County, Wisconsin.
Synonyms
John Reed Walter Reed vibrating reed beating-reed instrument reed instrument
Etymology
From Middle English red, from Old English hrēod, from Proto-West Germanic *hreud (“reed”), of uncertain origin.
Cognate with North Frisian raid (“reed”), Saterland Frisian Räit (“reed”), West Frisian reid (“reed”), Dutch riet (“reed”), German Reet, Ried (“reed”). No cognates in North Germanic languages, but the existence of an otherwise unattested Gothic *𐌷𐍂𐌹𐌿𐌳 (*hriud) was supposed by the brothers Grimm. They also theorised that the word may have a relation to the retas mentioned in Noctes Atticae (Aulus Gellius). The measuring reed sense is the translation of Akkadian qanûm ("cane") used in the Bible and elsewhere.
From Middle English reden, from the noun (see above).
From Middle English rede (“abomasum”), from Old English rēada, from Proto-West Germanic *raudō.
See ree.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Red. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- verb Same as Rede. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- noun The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet. [Prov. Eng. or Scot.]
- noun A name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).
Etymology [AS. hre; akin to D. riet, G. riet, ried, OHG. kriot, riot.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “reed”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details