[late and mod.L. zēa, a. Gr. ζειά.]

1

  † 1.  A Latin name for the grain called spelt. Obs.

2

1577.  Googe, trans. Heresbach’s Husb., 29. Next to Wheate and Barley, foloweth Zea.

3

1611.  Cotgr., Bled leger, Spelt or Zea; a corne which makes light and sauorie … bread.

4

  2.  Bot. Adopted by Linnæus as the name of a genus of graminaceous plants, comprising the one species Z. Mays (sometimes anglicized as zea maize), Maize or Indian corn.

5

1787.  trans. Linnæus’ Fam. Plants, II. 633. Zéa…. Indian, or Turkey Wheat.

6

1808.  Bartram, in A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith. (1832), I. 8. I fed him with corn, (zea, maize).

7

1820.  Amer. Jrnl. Sci., II. 46. The smut upon an ear of Zea-Mays.

8

1851.  Mayne Reid, Rifle Rangers, i. (1853), 16. The lance-like blades of the zea maize.

9