HEATH

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A tract of level wasteland; uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation

Synonyms:

heath; heathland

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Hypernyms ("heath" is a kind of...):

barren; waste; wasteland (an uninhabited wilderness that is worthless for cultivation)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A low evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae; has small bell-shaped pink or purple flowers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("heath" is a kind of...):

bush; shrub (a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "heath"):

erica; true heath (any plant of the genus Erica)

Bruckenthalia spiculifolia; spike heath (small evergreen mat-forming shrub of southern Europe and Asia Minor having stiff stems and terminal clusters of small bell-shaped flowers)

broom; Calluna vulgaris; heather; ling; Scots heather (common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere)

Cassiope mertensiana; white heather (heath of mountains of western United States having bell-shaped white flowers)

Connemara heath; Daboecia cantabrica; St. Dabeoc's heath (low straggling evergreen shrub of western Europe represented by several varieties with flowers from white to rose-purple)

Bryanthus taxifolius; mountain heath; Phyllodoce caerulea (small shrub with tiny evergreen leaves and pink or purple flowers; Alpine summits and high ground in Asia and Europe and United States)

Brewer's mountain heather; Phyllodoce breweri; purple heather (semi-prostrate evergreen herb of western United States)

Holonyms ("heath" is a member of...):

Ericaceae; family Ericaceae; heath family (heathers)

Credits

Context examples:

Before she could speak, Annie had the cover off, and all were exclaiming at the lovely roses, heath, and fern within.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

"Very willingly," he rejoined; and rising, he strode a little distance up the pass, threw himself down on a swell of heath, and there lay still.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It could not have been on the side of the heath, or I should have seen him.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was all rocky: however I got many birds’ eggs; and, striking fire, I kindled some heath and dry sea-weed, by which I roasted my eggs.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

A part of its orb was at length hid, and I waved my brand; it sank, and with a loud scream I fired the straw, and heath, and bushes, which I had collected.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

As they crossed the heath again on their way home they surprised the dwarf, who had emptied out his bag of precious stones in a clean spot, and had not thought that anyone would come there so late.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

She knew she looked well, she loved to dance, she felt that her foot was on her native heath in a ballroom, and enjoyed the delightful sense of power which comes when young girls first discover the new and lovely kingdom they are born to rule by virtue of beauty, youth, and womanhood.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

When he passed Penerley, where were three cottages and a barn, he reached the edge of the tree country, and found the great barren heath of Blackdown stretching in front of him, all pink with heather and bronzed with the fading ferns.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Whatever cross-accidents had occurred to intercept the pleasures of her nieces, she had found a morning of complete enjoyment; for the housekeeper, after a great many courtesies on the subject of pheasants, had taken her to the dairy, told her all about their cows, and given her the receipt for a famous cream cheese; and since Julia's leaving them they had been met by the gardener, with whom she had made a most satisfactory acquaintance, for she had set him right as to his grandson's illness, convinced him that it was an ague, and promised him a charm for it; and he, in return, had shewn her all his choicest nursery of plants, and actually presented her with a very curious specimen of heath.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I touched the heath: it was dry, and yet warm with the heat of the summer day.