Fern

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fern \Fern\, adv.
     Long ago. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:



  Fern \Fern\, a. [AS. fyrn.]
     Ancient; old. [Obs.] "Pilgrimages to . . . ferne halwes."
     [saints]. --Chaucer.
     [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Fern \Fern\ (f[~e]rn), n. [AS. fearn; akin to D. varen, G. farn,
     farnkraut; cf. Skr. par[.n]a wing, feather, leaf, sort of
     plant, or Lith. papartis fern.] (Bot.)
     An order of cryptogamous plants, the {Filices}, which have
     their fructification on the back of the fronds or leaves.
     They are usually found in humid soil, sometimes grow
     epiphytically on trees, and in tropical climates often attain
     a gigantic size.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: The plants are asexual, and bear clustered sporangia,
           containing minute spores, which germinate and form
           prothalli, on which are borne the true organs of
           reproduction. The brake or bracken, the maidenhair, and
           the polypody are all well known ferns.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     {Christmas fern}. See under {Christmas}.
  
     {Climbing fern} (Bot.), a delicate North American fern
        ({Lygodium palmatum}), which climbs several feet high over
        bushes, etc., and is much sought for purposes of
        decoration.
  
     {Fern owl}. (Zool.)
     (a) The European goatsucker.
     (b) The short-eared owl. [Prov. Eng.] -- {Fern shaw}, a fern
        thicket. [Eng.] --R. Browning.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  fern
       n : any of numerous flowerless and seedless vascular plants
           having true roots from a rhizome and fronds that uncurl
           upward; reproduce by spores

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  65 Moby Thesaurus words for "fern":
     Calamites, Cycadofilicales, Filicales, Selaginellaceae, Sigillaria,
     algae, autophyte, bean, bracken, brown algae, calamite, climber,
     conferva, confervoid, creeper, cycadofilicales, diatom, equisetum,
     filicoids, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, grapevine,
     green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, ivy, kelp, legume,
     lentil, lepidodendrids, lepidodendroids, liana, lichen, liverwort,
     mold, moss, mushroom, parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perthophyte,
     phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse,
     red algae, rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum,
     sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, smut, succulent,
     toadstool, vetch, vine, wort, wrack