winterfat
winterfat noun: any of the shrubs of genus Krascheninnikovia in the goosefoot family, especially Krascheninnikovia lanata.
Noun
winterfat (usually uncountable, plural winterfats)
- Any of the shrubs of genus Krascheninnikovia in the goosefoot family, especially Krascheninnikovia lanata.
- Winterfat, as the name implies, is chiefly valuable on winter ranges, where it often furnishes an abundance of palatable and nutritious forage highly fattening to sheep and cattle.1937, Range Plant Handbook
- Winterfat was found growing luxuriantly on soil where the salt content of the fourth foot reached 1 percent.1939, Paul Random Henson, Harvey Leroy Westover, Alfalfa Experiments at Stoneville, Miss., 1935-37, page 25
- Synonyms:
- krascheninnikovia
Examples of winterfat in a sentence
- Storage in sealed containers either at subzero temperatures (-4° to -10° F.) or under refrigeration (34° to 42° F.) is recommended for maximum retention of viability of winterfat seeds.1973, H. W. Springfield, Winterfat fruits and seeds retain high viability 3 years in cold storage:
- Department of Agriculture, thought that livestock fed on winterfat were "remarkably free from disease becaus of the tonic properties of the plant." Winterfat is a good source of protein and vitamin A.1987, Hugh Nelson Mozingo, Shrubs of the Great Basin: A Natural History, →ISBN, page 72:
Synonyms of winterfat
- krascheninnikovia
Forms of winterfat
| plural | winterfats |
|---|
Origin of winterfat
From winter + fat, so called because it provides range food for grazing livestock in the winter when very little grows.
Questions about winterfat
- What does winterfat mean?
- Winterfat means any of the shrubs of genus Krascheninnikovia in the goosefoot family, especially Krascheninnikovia lanata.
- How do you use winterfat in a sentence?
- Storage in sealed containers either at subzero temperatures (-4° to -10° F.) or under refrigeration (34° to 42° F.) is recommended for maximum retention of viability of winterfat seeds.
- What part of speech is winterfat?
- Winterfat is a noun.
- What is the plural of winterfat?
- The plural of winterfat is winterfats.
Words near winterfat in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: winterfat (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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