any brown seaweed of the genus Sargassum, esp S. bacciferum, having air bladders and forming dense floating masses in tropical Atlantic waters, esp the Gulf Stream
Also called: sargasso, sargasso weed
sargassum in British English
(sɑːˈɡæsəm) or sargasso (sɑːˈɡæsəʊ)
noun
any floating brown seaweed of the genus Sargassum, such as gulfweed, of warm seas, having ribbon-like fronds containing air sacs
Word origin
C18: from New Latin; see sargasso
sargasso in American English
(sɑːrˈɡæsou)
nounWord forms: plural-sos
a gulfweed
Word origin
[1590–1600; ‹ Pg, perh. special use of sargaço rockrose ‹ L salicastrum, equiv. to salic- (s. of salix) willow + -astrum, neut. of -aster-aster1]This word is first recorded in the period 1590–1600. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: Byzantine, fixture, investment, tube, volunteer