spear grass

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. See feather grass.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A name of various species of Agrostis, bent-grass, of Agropyrum repens, quitch-grass, of Alopecurus agrestis, foxtail, and perhaps of some other grasses. The spear-grass of Shakspere, according to Ellacombe, is the quitch-grass; according to Prior, it is the common reed, Phragmites communis.
2. n. The June-grass, or Kentucky blue-grass, Poa pratensis (see cut under Poa); also other species of the genus. P. annua is the low or annual spear-grass. It is so called from the lance-shaped spikelets. (See meadow-grass.) The name is said to be applied also to the porcupine-grass, on account of its awns.
3. n. In New Zealand, a name of one or two plants of the umbelliferous genus Aciphylla: so called from their long grass-like leaflets, which have hard and sharp points.
4. n. In Australia, any one of several species of valuable forage grasses, namely, several species of the genus Stipa and Andropogon contortus. The seeds of these grasses are sharp and covered with fine barbs so that they easily become entangled in the wool of sheep and frequently penetrate the skin, often causing the death of the animal.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) meadow grass. See under Meadow.