From: matthew.malthouse@guardian.co.uk
Subject: Re: (whorl) Seawrack
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 09:08:25 +0100



On 06/09/2000 22:27:09 Peter Westlake wrote:

>At 09:56 2000-09-06 -0400, Dan Schmidt wrote:
>>Is this a common word?  It appears to be a synonym for seaweed, but I
>>don't remember encountering it before.
>
>It isn't exactly common, but I think I've heard it before.
>It isn't just seaweed, but specifically "seaweed case ashore in masses",
>according to Merriam-Webster (http://www.yourdictionary.com/cgi-bin/mw.cgi).
>I think I knew about the "cast ashore" sense, but thought it was any kind
>of wreckage ("wrack"), not just seaweed.

OED

sea-wrack. Forms: see wrack.
1. pl. Property cast ashore by the sea. Obs.
1548 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 61/1 Terras de Terbert, cum manerio, molendino et lie
sey-wrakis earundem.

2. a. collect. Seaweed, esp. any of the large coarse kinds cast up on the shore,
as Fucus, Laminaria, etc. Sometimes applied spec. to Zostera marina.
1551 Turner Herbal i. K iv, Alga..is commonly called in englyshe see wrak.
1654 in N. Riding Rec. V. 161 [Indicted for unjustly taking 10 horse load of
sea-wreck].
1759 Martin Nat. Hist. II. Yorksh. 298 They gather up the Sea-wreck and lay it
in Heaps.
1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. ii, Wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to his
utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true orients.
1906 F. Campbell Dearlove 29 A litter of brown sea-wrack.

b. A particular kind of seaweed.
1611 Cotgr., Sparie, a sea-wrecke.
Ibid., Varech, a sea-wracke, or wrecke.
1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, The Spongy leaves of some Sea-wracks..are
over-wrought with Net-work.
1681 Grew Musľum ii. ¤v. ii. 248 The Bearded Sea-Wrack. Fucus capillaris
tinctorius.
1846 Lindley Veget. Kingd. 145 Zosteraceľ.Sea wracks.
1852 Th. Ross tr. Humboldt<cq>s Trav. I. i. 33 To rank it provisionally among
the sea-wracks.



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