sargassos

Noun

sargasso (countable and uncountable, plural sargassos or sargassoes)

1. A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.
   • SARGASSO, the Sea-Lentile.[1721, N[athan] Bailey, “SARGASSO”, in An Universal Etymological English Dictionary: […], London: […] E. Bell, J. Darby, […], →OCLC, column 2

   Synonyms:

   gulfweed, sargasso weed, sargassum

2. (figuratively) Also Sargasso: a confused, tangled mass or situation.
   • Afghanistan is a sargasso of wrecks from earlier civilizations; buried in its earth are hordes of Greek coins, Aramaic inscriptions, Saljuq mosques, and Mazdakite fire temples, flaking away in their own dust, forgotten in valleys where the local villagers carry away their bricks for cattle folds.1981, David Chaffetz, “On Pilgrimage”, in A Journey through Afghanistan: A Memorial, Chicago, Ill.: Regnery Gateway, →ISBN; new edition, Chicago, Ill.; London: University of Chicago Press, 2001...
3. A part of an ocean or sea characterized by floating masses of sargassos, like the Sargasso Sea.
   • Of Sargassos or Weedy Seas. [...] [T]he most remarkable of them all, is that in the North Atlantic. [Christopher] Columbus passed through it on his first voyage of discovery to America. […] The sargassos of the southern hemisphere are not so well marked as this, nor are they as rich in drift or...1864, M[atthew] F[ontaine] Maury, “Book VI”, in Physical Geography for Schools and General Readers, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, & Green, →OCLC, § 225, pages 100–101