Reed, n.
 1. Bot. A name given to many tall and coarse grasses or grasslike plants, and their slender, often jointed, stems, such as the various kinds of bamboo, and especially the common reed of Europe and North America (Phragmites communis).
 2. A musical instrument made of the hollow joint of some plant; a rustic or pastoral pipe.
 Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed
 Of Hermes.   --Milton.
 3. An arrow, as made of a reed.
 4. Straw prepared for thatching a roof. [Prov. Eng.]
 5. Mus. (a) A small piece of cane or wood attached to the mouthpiece of certain instruments, and set in vibration by the breath. In the clarinet it is a single fiat reed; in the oboe and bassoon it is double, forming a compressed tube. (b) One of the thin pieces of metal, the vibration of which produce the tones of a melodeon, accordeon, harmonium, or seraphine; also attached to certain sets or registers of pipes in an organ.
 6. Weaving A frame having parallel flat stripe of metal or reed, between which the warp threads pass, set in the swinging lathe or batten of a loom for beating up the weft; a sley. See Batten.
 7. Mining A tube containing the train of powder for igniting the charge in blasting.
 8. Arch. Same as Reeding.
 Egyptian reed Bot., the papyrus.
 Free reed Mus., a reed whose edges do not overlap the wind passage, -- used in the harmonium, concertina, etc. It is distinguished from the beating or striking reed of the organ and clarinet.
 Meadow reed grass Bot., the Glyceria aquatica, a tall grass found in wet places.
 Reed babbler. See Reedbird.
 Reed bunting Zool. A European sparrow (Emberiza schœniclus) which frequents marshy places; -- called also reed sparrow, ring bunting. (b) Reedling.
 Reed canary grass Bot., a tall wild grass (Phalaris arundinacea).
 Reed grass. Bot. (a) The common reed. See Reed, 1. (b) A plant of the genus Sparganium; bur reed. See under Bur.
 Reed organ Mus., an organ in which the wind acts on a set of free reeds, as the harmonium, melodeon, concertina, etc.
 Reed pipe Mus., a pipe of an organ furnished with a reed.
 Reed sparrow. Zool. See Reed bunting, above.
 Reed stop Mus., a set of pipes in an organ furnished with reeds.
 Reed warbler. Zool. (a) A small European warbler (Acrocephalus streperus); -- called also reed wren. (b) Any one of several species of Indian and Australian warblers of the genera Acrocephalus, Calamoherpe, and Arundinax. They are excellent singers.
 Sea-sand reed Bot., a kind of coarse grass (Ammophila arundinacea). See Beach grass, under Beach.
 Wood reed grass Bot., a tall, elegant grass (Cinna arundinacea), common in moist woods.

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 Rib·bon n.  [Written also riband, ribband.]
 1. A fillet or narrow woven fabric, commonly of silk, used for trimming some part of a woman's attire, for badges, and other decorative purposes.
 2. A narrow strip or shred; as, a steel or magnesium ribbon; sails torn to ribbons.
 3. Shipbuilding Same as Rib-band.
 4. pl. Driving reins. [Cant]
 5. Her. A bearing similar to the bend, but only one eighth as wide.
 6. Spinning A silver.
 Note: ☞ The blue ribbon, and The red ribbon, are phrases often used to designate the British orders of the Garter and of the Bath, respectively, the badges of which are suspended by ribbons of these colors. See Blue ribbon, under Blue.
 Ribbon fish. Zool. (a) Any elongated, compressed, ribbon-shaped marine fish of the family Trachypteridae, especially the species of the genus Trachypterus, and the oarfish (Regelecus Banksii) of the North Atlantic, which is sometimes over twenty feet long. (b) The hairtail, or bladefish. (c) A small compressed marine fish of the genus Cepola, having a long, slender, tapering tail.  The European species (Cepola rubescens) is light red throughout.  Called also band fish.
 Ribbon grass Bot., a variety of reed canary grass having the leaves stripped with green and white; -- called also Lady's garters. See Reed grass, under Reed.
 Ribbon seal Zool., a North Pacific seal (Histriophoca fasciata). The adult male is dark brown, conspicuously banded and striped with yellowish white.
 Ribbon snake Zool., a common North American snake (Eutainia saurita). It is conspicuously striped with bright yellow and dark brown.
 Ribbon Society, a society in Ireland, founded in the early part of the 19th century in antagonism to the Orangemen. It afterwards became an organization of tennant farmers banded together to prevent eviction by landlords. It took its name from the green ribbon worn by members as a badge.
 Ribborn worm. Zool. (a) A tapeworm. (b) A nemertean.


 reed grass
      n : any of various tall perennial grasses of the genus
          Calamagrostis having feathery plumes; natives of
          marshland fens and wet woodlands of temperate northern
          hemisphere