Fussock

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A dense clump of grass or coarse plant growth forming a raised tuft on the ground
2. A thick bunch of grass or similar vegetation growing together in a compact mass
3. A raised tussock or clump formed by tightly growing grass and weeds

Etymology: The history of this word is poorly documented. It survives mainly in regional English speech, where it was used for a stout, untidy woman, and it does not appear in the standard written record in a way that lets its ancestry be traced with confidence. Its origin is therefore unknown, and no firm link to a older English or foreign root can be shown. What can be said is that words of this kind often survive only in dialect and were rarely written down, so their earliest forms are hard to recover. Any proposed source would be guesswork, which is why the word's origin remains open.