Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several bulrushes that grow in marshy lowlands of the southwest United States.
  • noun Northern California Marshy or swampy land.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun More broadly, other marsh plants, such as cattail.
  • noun A bulrush or clubrush of either of two species which in California and adjacent regions occupy large areas of overflowed bottom-land and marsh.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A large bulrush (Scirpus lacustris, and Scirpus Tatora) growing abundantly on overflowed land in California and elsewhere.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Schoenoplectus acutus, a giant freshwater sedge of western North America
  • noun A type of chinook salmon which spawns in the Columbia River basin

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[American Spanish, from Nahuatl tōlin, reed, sedge.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Spanish tule, from Classical Nahuatl tōllin ("bulrush, sedge").

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Examples

  • One way to cork up those gases is to flood the peatland and grow a tall grass called tule.

    News 2011

  • One way to cork up those gases is to flood the peatland and grow a tall grass called tule.

    News 2011

  • Here in Mexico, fruit is stored in the sturdy, all-purpose chichihuite, a basket woven of palm or tule which is used for everything from storing dried chiles to serving tortillas.

    Adding zest to summer's bounty: salsas de fruta 2006

  • Here in Mexico, fruit is stored in the sturdy, all-purpose chichihuite, a basket woven of palm or tule which is used for everything from storing dried chiles to serving tortillas.

    Adding zest to summer's bounty: salsas de fruta 2006

  • Here in Mexico, fruit is stored in the sturdy, all-purpose chichihuite, a basket woven of palm or tule which is used for everything from storing dried chiles to serving tortillas.

    Adding zest to summer's bounty: salsas de fruta 2006

  • Stretches of "tule" land fertilized by its once regular channel and dotted by flourishing ranchos are now cleanly erased.

    Selected Stories of Bret Harte Bret Harte 1869

  • POINT REYES NATIONAL SEASHORE—Once-endangered tule elk are proliferating here in west Marin County, delighting conservationists who love the enormous creatures and their magnificent antlers.

    Point Reyes Elk Butt In at Ranches Stu Woo 2011

  • About 10 tule elk were brought to the national seashore in 1978 to encourage their growth in a protected area.

    Point Reyes Elk Butt In at Ranches Stu Woo 2011

  • Hundreds of Greek and Italian fishermen, up river and down bay, had searched every slough and tule patch for it.

    Chapter 11 2010

  • The tule elk are imposing, standing four or five feet tall at the shoulder and up to eight feet tall with antlers.

    Point Reyes Elk Butt In at Ranches Stu Woo 2011

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