Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The decumbent caudex of the fern Dicksonia Barometz, also called
Agnus Scythicus , the Scythian or Tatarian lamb. SeeAgnus Scythicus , under agnus. Also writtenboramez .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) The woolly-skinned rhizoma or rootstock of a fern (
Dicksonia barometz ), which, when specially prepared and inverted, somewhat resembles a lamb; -- called alsoScythian lamb .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
woolly fern , Cibotium barometz. - noun A
Scythian Lamb; a joke creature, supposedly half animal and half plant, made by inverting a woolly fern. - noun The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, a
mythical plant believed to growsheep as itsfruit .
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word barometz.
Examples
-
Possible the barnacle, like the barometz of Tartarean lamb, may be a survivor of the day when the animal and vegetable kingdoms had not yet branched off into different directions.
-
This is actually a rhizome of the fern Cibotium barometz, an arborescent fern that was eventually introduced into Britain in 1824 from China.
Vegetable Lamb of Tartary Jenny Davidson 2004
-
This is actually a rhizome of the fern Cibotium barometz, an arborescent fern that was eventually introduced into Britain in 1824 from China.
Archive 2004-05-01 Jenny Davidson 2004
-
Possible the barnacle, like the barometz of Tartarean lamb, may be a survivor of the day when the animal and vegetable kingdoms had not yet branched off into different directions.
Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855
-
Cibotium barometz) and three orchid species. frozen carcasses of two tigers and a panther, along with several kilos of suspected tiger bone, were confiscated last week in Vietnam, a country which now has as few as 30 tigers left in the wild.
Scientific American 2010
yarb commented on the word barometz
A spurious natural-history specimen, consisting of the creeping root-stock and frond-stalks of a woolly fern (Cibotium barometz) turned upside down; formerly represented as a creature half-animal and half-plant, and called the Scythian Lamb.
- OED2
December 28, 2008
sionnach commented on the word barometz
the vegetable lamb, which grows (attached by its long tail) head-downward from a tree.
January 11, 2009
bilby commented on the word barometz
How many are there?
January 11, 2009
sionnach commented on the word barometz
Vast Scythian flocks, beyond number, I imagine.
January 11, 2009
bilby commented on the word barometz
Wot, more than jigget? Oh dear.
January 11, 2009
sionnach commented on the word barometz
See also baromets.
January 12, 2009
sionnach commented on the word barometz
Instead of flowering the plant blossoms into vicious omnivorous sheep. Tethered to their stalks, the sheep blossoms then strip the land around them until, ultimately, they starve themselves to death. Curiously, a dead barometz is prized for its succulent crab-lie flesh, fine wool, and bones that, when crushed, impart the gift of prophecy.
July 7, 2009
bilby commented on the word barometz
How do you tell when a crab is lying?
July 7, 2009
dontcry commented on the word barometz
I give up... how do you tell when a crab is lying?
July 7, 2009
sionnach commented on the word barometz
Foolish marsupial! You have the gift of prophecy.
July 7, 2009
dontcry commented on the word barometz
I don't get it...
July 7, 2009
elohiwarrior commented on the word barometz
'When it's on your plate!' Just ask Jimi
July 7, 2009
dontcry commented on the word barometz
Ooooh...when his face turns red, right?
July 7, 2009
sionnach commented on the word barometz
duneroller
Cancel my Scythian vacation. It's just too risky.
February 27, 2010
blafferty commented on the word barometz
June 11, 2011
rolig commented on the word barometz
I'm claiming this for my Slavonicisms list, on the suspicion that the word derives from the Russian word баран / baran, which means "ram". (In Russian, баранец / baranets is the name of a moss, Huperzia selago, the northern firmoss or fir clubmoss, but what relation that has to sheep-bearing vegetation I don't know).
June 11, 2011
sionnach commented on the word barometz
That's lovely, blaff.
I think there's sufficient overlap between Scythia and the former U.S.S.R. to support the notion of the barometz falling into the Slav sphere of influence.
*Hears munching sound in the background. Looks around nervously.*
June 11, 2011
sionnach commented on the word barometz
Well, the dreaded lamb of Tartary seems to have killed off everyone else on Wordie. It's awfully quiet around here today.
Or as yarb would put it;
June 11, 2011
frogapplause commented on the word barometz
I showed up earlier, but there was nothing but my own echo, so I left. Nice bouncing sheep, sionnach!
June 11, 2011
rolig commented on the word barometz
Sorry you were here all by yourself, Foxy, but I see you managed to have fun with the sheep. As for the Scythians, you probably know that Russians have been claiming the Scythian legacy for themselves at least since the mid-19th century. Not to mention all the Scythian gold they have in the depositories of the hermitage. But as for the dreaded ovine plant, when I looked up the word баранец / baranets (the Russian name for it) on the Russian Wikipedia (Википедия), all the references they had for it were Western reports, so who know what the origin of the legend is.
June 11, 2011
madmouth commented on the word barometz
I wararnt tanuki balls can compensate for a lifetime of silence. Just listen to their whistly flapping - whooom .... whooom ....
June 11, 2011
blafferty commented on the word barometz
Different time zones, I guess. I'm always disappointed when I get on after dinner and everyone's gone to bed.
Very fierce sheep there, sionnach. Good thing I didn't dream of counting barometz last night!
June 11, 2011
blafferty commented on the word barometz
Oh dear lord, are those what I think they are, madmouth?
June 11, 2011
reesetee commented on the word barometz
I don't want to know, anyhow.
June 18, 2011
sionnach commented on the word barometz
November 1, 2011
bilby commented on the word barometz
My, what a decumbent caudex you have!
November 2, 2011
ruzuzu commented on the word barometz
Also see Vegetable Lamb of Tartary.
January 31, 2023