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Definition reed

Etymology 1

From Middle English rede, from Old English hr?od, from Proto-Germanic *hreud?, of uncertain origin. Akin to Saterland Frisian Rait (�reed�), West Frisian reid (�reed�), Dutch riet (�reed�), German Ried (�reed�). No cognates in North Germanic languages, but the existence of an otherwise unattested Gothic *????? (*hriud) was supposed by the brothers Grimm. They also theorised that the word may have a relation to the retas mentioned in Noctes Atticae (Aulus Gellius). The measuring reed sense is the translation of Akkadian qan�m ("cane") used in the Bible and elsewhere.

Noun

reed (countable and uncountable, plural reeds)

1. (countable) Any of various types of tall stiff perennial grass-like plants growing together in groups near water.
2. (countable) The hollow stem of these plants.
3. (countable, music) Part of the mouthpiece of certain woodwind instruments, comprising a thin piece of wood or metal which shakes very quickly to produce sound when a musician blows over it.
4. (countable, music) A musical instrument such as the clarinet or oboe, which produces sound when a musician blows on the reed.
5. (countable, weaving) A comb-like part of a beater for beating the weft when weaving.
6. (countable, historical) A piece of whalebone or similar for stiffening the skirt or waist of a woman's dress.
7. (uncountable, architecture) Reeding.
8. (mining) A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
9. Straw prepared for thatching a roof.
10. (poetic, obsolete) A missile weapon.
11. (archaic, metrology) A measuring rod.
    1. A Babylonian unit of measure the length of a reed, equal to half a nindan, or six cubits.

Verb

reed (third-person singular simple present reeds, present participle reeding, simple past and past participle reeded)

1. (transitive) To thatch.
2. To mill or mint with reeding.

Etymology 2

See ree

Verb

reed

1. simple past tense and past participle of ree

Etymology 3

Noun

reed (plural reeds)

1. (Britain, Scotland, dialectal) The fourth stomach of a ruminant; rennet.

Results 242 Words with the letters REED

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