Pl. spathæ. [L. spatha, ad. Gr. σπάθη broad blade, broad flat piece of wood, stem of a palm-leaf, spatula, etc.]
1. Bot. A spathe.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., s.v., The spatha is of very different texture … in different plants.
1760. [see SPADICEOUS a. 2].
1769. E. Bancroft, Guiana, 31. A tough ligneous cylindrical stalk … terminated by a conic, reddish purple spatha.
1796. Stedman, Surinam, II. xix. 66. The seed is enclosed in a brownish kind of spatha, that arises from the center of the branches.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 175. Flowers … bursting through an irregularly lacerated spatha.
1850. Tyas, Favourite Field Fl., Ser. II. 18. The daffodils were showing their … petals through the transparent spatha.
transf. 1834. trans. Raspail’s Org. Chem., 283. If … we examine a feather … we may … satisfy ourselves, that its tube is formed and grows by means of spathæ, one within another.
2. A flat blade-shaped implement.
1881. J. Anderson, Scot. in Early Chr. T., Ser. II. i. 32. At its right side lay an iron knife, a weaver’s rubbing-bone, and spatha of whalebone.
