fiddlehead fern

fiddlehead fern
fiddlehead fid"dle*head` n. 1. any of several tall ferns of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes.

Syn: ostrich fern, shuttlecock fern, {Matteuccia struthiopteris}, {Pteretis struthiopteris}, {Onoclea struthiopteris}. [WordNet 1.5]

2. New World fern ({Osmunda cinnamonea}) having woolly cinnamon-colored spore-bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds, called also {fiddlehead fern}; the early uncurling fronds are edible, and sometimes considered as a vegetable delicacy.

Syn: cinnamon fern, fiddlehead fern, {Osmunda cinnamonea}. [WordNet 1.5]

3. (Naut.) an ornament on a ship's bow, curved like the volute or scroll at the head of a violin. Sometimes it serves the function of a {billhead}. [1913 Webster +PJC]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Fiddlehead fern — Fiddlehead ferns refers to the unfurled fronds of a young fern harvested for food consumption. The fiddlehead, or circinate vernation, unrolls as the fern matures and grows due to more growth in the inside of the curl. The fiddlehead resembles… …   Wikipedia

  • fiddlehead fern — noun New World fern having woolly cinnamon colored spore bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds; the early uncurling fronds are edible • Syn: ↑cinnamon fern, ↑fiddlehead, ↑Osmunda cinnamonea • Hypernyms: ↑flowering fern,… …   Useful english dictionary

  • fiddlehead fern — noun see fiddlehead …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • Fiddlehead greens — (fiddlehead ferns, fiddleheads)(Matteuccia struthiopteris, var. Penn.), the curled tops of the ostrich fern picked before they unfurl, grow wild in wet areas in spring in the Province of New Brunswick in the Maritimes in Canada and are used as… …   Wikipedia

  • fiddlehead — fid dle*head n. 1. any of several tall ferns of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes. Syn: ostrich fern, shuttlecock fern, {Matteuccia struthiopteris}, {Pteretis struthiopteris},… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fiddlehead — [fid′ lhed΄] n. 1. a carved decoration on a ship s bow, curved like the scroll of a violin head 2. [so named from its shape] the coiled tip of a young fern of any of certain species, often cooked and eaten as a vegetable; crosier: also called… …   English World dictionary

  • fiddlehead — noun 1. tall fern of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes • Syn: ↑ostrich fern, ↑shuttlecock fern, ↑Matteuccia struthiopteris, ↑Pteretis struthiopteris, ↑Onoclea struthiopteris •… …   Useful english dictionary

  • fiddlehead — noun Date: 1882 one of the young unfurling fronds of some ferns that are often eaten as greens called also fiddlehead fern …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • fiddlehead — one with a head as hollow as a fiddle, 1854 (fiddleheaded), from FIDDLE (Cf. fiddle) + HEAD (Cf. head). As a name for young fern fronds, from 1882, from resemblance to a violin s scroll …   Etymology dictionary

  • fern — fernless, adj. fernlike, adj. /ferrn/, n. any seedless, nonflowering vascular plant of the class Filicinae, of tropical to temperate regions, characterized by true roots produced from a rhizome, triangular fronds that uncoil upward and have a… …   Universalium

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