Heath (hēth),
n. [OE. heth waste land, the plant heath, AS. h&aemacr;ð; akin to D. & G.
heide, Icel. heiðr waste land, Dan. hede, Sw. hed, Goth. haiþi field, L.
bucetum a cow pasture; cf. W. coed a wood, Skr. kshētra field. √20.]
1. (Bot.) (a) A low shrub
(Erica, or Calluna,
vulgaris), with minute evergreen leaves, and handsome clusters of pink flowers. It is used in Great Britain for brooms, thatch, beds for the poor, and
for heating ovens. It is also
called heather, and
ling. (b) Also, any species of the genus
Erica, of which several are European, and many more
are South African, some of great beauty. See Illust. of Heather.
2. A place overgrown with heath; any cheerless tract of country overgrown with shrubs or coarse herbage.
Their stately growth, though bare,
Stands on the blasted heath.
Milton Heath cock (Zoöl.), the blackcock. See Heath grouse (below). -- Heath grass (Bot.), a kind of perennial grass, of the genus
Triodia (T. decumbens), growing on dry heaths. -- Heath grouse, or Heath game (Zoöl.), a European grouse (Tetrao tetrix), which inhabits heaths; -- called also black game, black grouse, heath poult, heath fowl, moor fowl. The male is called heath cock, and blackcock; the female, heath hen, and gray hen. -- Heath hen. (Zoöl.) See Heath grouse (above). --
Heath pea (Bot.), a species of bitter vetch (Lathyrus
macrorhizus), the tubers of which are eaten, and in Scotland are used to flavor whisky. -- Heath throstle
(Zoöl.), a European thrush which frequents heaths; the ring ouzel.
Hear it pronounced