See Also: tussock(medicine)
tussock(dictionary)
tussock(dictionary)
tussock moth(encyclopedia)

tussock (iou)



tussock noun. In sense 3 also tussac. M16.
[Prob. alt. of TUSK noun2 assim. to words in -OCK.]
A tuft or clump of grass etc. forming a small hillock; (now rare) a tuft of leaves, hair, etc. M16.
K. M. E. Murray Jumping from tussock to tussock over a patch of bog.
More fully tussock moth. Any of various moths of the family Lymantriidae, whose larvae have long dorsal tufts of hairs and are freq. pests of trees. E19.
= tussock grass (a), (b) below. E19.
Comb.: tussock grass any of various grasses forming (large) tussocks; esp. (a) a giant grass of the Falkland Islands, Poa flabellata; (b) Austral. & NZ (more fully serrated tussock grass) an aggressive Chilean grass, Nassella trichotoma, a serious weed in pastures; (c) in Britain, tufted hair-grass, Deschampsia cespitosa; tussock land Austral. & NZ uncultivated grassland used for sheep-grazing; tussock moth: see sense 2 above.
tussocked adjective covered with or formed into tussocks; covered with tussock grass: L18.
tussocker noun (NZ slang) = SUNDOWNER 1 L19.
tussocky adjective covered with, resembling, or forming tussocks M17.