Meanings
nounwindlestraw (countable and uncountable, plural windlestraws)
plural windlestraws · alternative windlestrae
- ScotlandUKcountabledialectaluncountableA grass used for making ropes or for plaiting, especially Apera spica-venti.
Grey rocks did peep from the square moss, and stemmed / The struggling brook: tall spires of windlestrae / Threw their thin shadows down the rugged slope, / And nought but gnarlèd roots of ancient pines, / Branchless and blasted, clenched with grasping roots / The unwilling soil.
1816, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alastor
Origin
Cite this entry
APA
windlestraw. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windlestraw
MLA
“windlestraw.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windlestraw. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “windlestraw,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/windlestraw.
Source: windlestraw on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.