Herbage

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈhəːbɪdÊ’/

Origin

From Middle French herbage and Old French erbage, from Medieval Latin herbaticum, from Latin herba ("grass"); alternatively, herb + -age.

Full definition of herbage

Noun

1. Herbs collectively.
2. Herbaceous plant growth, especially grass.
• 1841, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘A Descent into the Maelström’:I threw myself upon my face, and clung to the scant herbage in an excess of nervous agitation.
• 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p. 97:The dank breath of herbage, sodden with rain, came to her; the mists were barely visible, hovering above the dark ravines.
3. The fleshy, often edible, parts of plants.
4. (legal) The natural pasture of a land, considered as distinct from the land itself; hence, right of pasture (on another man's land).