fiddlehead — English Dictionary

Noun

1. The scroll-shaped decoration at the tip of a fiddle.

   Synonyms

   scroll

2. A similar scroll-shaped ornament on a ship's bow.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   Such a ship as the Rose of Devon frigate, standing out for the open sea, is a sight the world no longer affords. Those ships are “gone, gone, gone with lost Atlantis.” Their lofty poops, their little bonaventure masts, their lateen sails aft, their high forecastles and tall bowsprits with the square spritsail flaunted before the fiddlehead, came down from an even earlier day

3. The furled fronds of a young fern, sometimes harvested for food consumption.

   Synonyms

   circinate vernationcrosiertete de violintete-de-violinviolin head

Noun

1. tall fern of northern temperate regions having graceful arched fronds and sporophylls resembling ostrich plumes

   Synonyms

   ostrich fernshuttlecock fernMatteuccia struthiopterisPteretis struthiopterisOnoclea struthiopteris

   Broader terms

   fern

2. New World fern having woolly cinnamon-colored spore-bearing fronds in early spring later surrounded by green fronds; the early uncurling fronds are edible

   Synonyms

   cinnamon fernfiddlehead fernOsmunda cinnamonea

   Broader terms

   flowering fernosmund