n., pl., -thies.
Any of several grasses of the genus Phleum, especially P. pratense, native to Eurasia, and P. alpinum, of North America, having a dense cylindrical inflorescence of compressed, one-flowered spikelets and widely cultivated for hay.
[Probably after Timothy Hanson, an 18th-century American farmer.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
