noun
- any of several sagelike, bushy composite plants of the genus Artemisia, especially A. tridentata, having silvery, wedge-shaped leaves, with three teeth at the tip, common on the dry plains of the western U.S.
noun
- any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, esp A. tridentata, a shrub of W North America, having silver-green leaves and large clusters of small white flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)
n.1850, from sage (n.1), to which it has no biological affinity, + brush (n.2). Said to be so called for resemblance of its appearance or odor. Sage-brush is very fair fuel, but as a vegetable it is a distinguished failure. Nothing can abide the taste of it but the jackass and his illegitimate child, the mule. [“Mark Twain,” “Roughing It”]