Word Study
vetch
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun vetch has 1 sense
- vetch(n = noun.plant) - any of various climbing plants of the genus Vicia having pinnately compound leaves that terminate in tendrils and small variously colored flowers; includes valuable forage and soil-building plants; is a kind of legume, leguminous plant
is a member of genus vicia, vicia
has particulars: tare, bird vetch, calnada pea, tufted vetch, vicia cracca, bitter betch, vicia orobus, spring vetch, vicia sativa, bush vetch, vicia sepium
CIDE DICTIONARY
vetch, n. [Also fitch; OE. ficche, feche, for veche, OF. veche, vecce, vesche, vesce, F. vesce, fr. L. vicia.].
Any leguminous plant of the genus Vicia , some species of which are valuable for fodder. The common species is Vicia sativa . [1913 Webster]
" The name is also applied to many other leguminous plants of different genera; as the chichling vetch, of the genus Lathyrus ; the horse vetch, of the genus Hippocrepis ; the kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria ); the milk vetch, of the genus Astragalus ; the licorice vetch, or wild licorice (Abrus precatorius )."
[1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
vetch, n. any plant of the genus Vicia, esp. V. sativa, largely used for silage or fodder.
Derivative
vetchy adj.
Etymology
ME f. AF & ONF veche f. L vicia
THESAURUS
vetch
algae, autophyte, bean, bracken, brown algae, climber, conferva, confervoid, creeper, diatom, fern, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, ivy, kelp, legume, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom, parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse, red algae, rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, smut, succulent, toadstool, vine, wort, wrack
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