foxtail [foks-teyl] EXAMPLES|WORD ORIGIN noun the tail of a fox. any of various grasses having soft, brushlike spikes of flowers. Liberaldictionary.com
Origin of foxtail late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at fox, tail1 Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Examples from the Web for foxtail Historical Examples of foxtail
He was not used, he said, “to flatter or to tickle with a foxtail.”
The Rise of the Dutch Republic, Volume I.(of III) 1555-66
John Lothrop Motley
The larv feed on the roots of grasses, having particular liking for the roots of foxtail, timothy and blue-grass.
Manual of American Grape-Growing
U. P. Hedrick
Asher was chewing the tender joint of a spear of foxtail grass, and Champers had lighted a heavy cigar.
Margaret Hill McCarter
The “Foxtail” milkwort, whose name I don’t accept, C. 1006, is intermediate between this and the next species.
John Ruskin
Those who travel and camp among the highest mountains of California are often indebted to foxtail pine for their fuel.
Henry H. Gibson
British Dictionary definitions for foxtail foxtail noun any grass of the genus Alopecurus, esp A. pratensis, of Europe, Asia, and South America, having soft cylindrical spikes of flowers: cultivated as a pasture grass any of various similar and related grasses, esp any of the genus Setaria Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012