heath

Definition

A tract of level uncultivated land with sandy soil and scrubby vegetation; heathland.

Etymology

From Middle English heth, heeth, hethe, from Old English hǣþ (“heath, untilled land, waste; heather”), from Proto-West Germanic *haiþi, from Proto-Germanic *haiþī (“heath, waste, untilled land”), from Proto-Indo-European *kayt- (“forest, wasteland, pasture”). Cognate with Dutch heide (“heath, moorland”), German Heide (“heath, moor”), Norwegian hei (“heath”), Swedish hed (“heath, moorland”), Old Welsh coit (“forest”), Welsh coed (“forest”), Latin būcētum (“pastureland”, literally “cow-pasture”) -cetum (“place of, grove of”).

Example Sentences

• "1. Where the place?/2. Vpon the Heath/3. There to meet with Macbeth"
• "These two stood in the corridor, waving till the last of the platform was out of sight; then they came into our compartment, and the woman cried a little. Soon she dried her eyes, and went back into the corridor, to have a last glimpse of her native heath."
• "There was nobody living in Jim's old house, and some of the windows was broken; but there was heath growing back and front."