Seawrack

matthew.malthouse · 07 Sep 2000, 08:08 · from whorl-v0011.mbox · original

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From: matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk
Subject: Re: (whorl) Seawrack
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2000 09:08:25 +0100
Message-ID: <whorl-v0011-0246 at digest.urth.net>
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On 06/09/2000 22:27:09 Peter Westlake wrote:

>At 09:56 2000-09-06 -0400, Dan Schmidt wrote:
>>Is this a common word?  It appears to be a synonym for seaweed, but I
>>don't remember encountering it before.
>
>It isn't exactly common, but I think I've heard it before.
>It isn't just seaweed, but specifically "seaweed case ashore in masses",
>according to Merriam-Webster (http://www.yourdictionary.com/cgi-bin/mw.cgi=
).
>I think I knew about the "cast ashore" sense, but thought it was any kind
>of wreckage ("wrack"), not just seaweed.

OED

sea-wrack. Forms: see wrack.
1. pl. Property cast ashore by the sea. Obs.
1548 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 61/1 Terras de Terbert, cum manerio, molendino et=
 lie
sey-wrakis earundem.

2. a. collect. Seaweed, esp. any of the large coarse kinds cast up on the s=
hore,
as Fucus, Laminaria, etc. Sometimes applied spec. to Zostera marina.
1551 Turner Herbal i. K iv, Alga..is commonly called in englyshe see wrak.
1654 in N. Riding Rec. V. 161 [Indicted for unjustly taking 10 horse load of
sea-wreck].
1759 Martin Nat. Hist. II. Yorksh. 298 They gather up the Sea-wreck and lay=
 it
in Heaps.
1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. i. ii, Wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to=
 his
utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true orients.
1906 F. Campbell Dearlove 29 A litter of brown sea-wrack.

b. A particular kind of seaweed.
1611 Cotgr., Spari=7Fe, a sea-wrecke.
Ibid., Varech, a sea-wracke, or wrecke.
1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii, The Spongy leaves of some Sea-wracks..a=
re
over-wrought with Net-work.
1681 Grew Mus=C2=BEum ii. =C2=A4v. ii. 248 The Bearded Sea-Wrack. Fucus cap=
illaris
tinctorius.
1846 Lindley Veget. Kingd. 145 Zosterace=C2=BE.Sea wracks.
1852 Th. Ross tr. Humboldt<cq>s Trav. I. i. 33 To rank it provisionally amo=
ng
the sea-wracks.

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