English edit

Etymology edit

From heath +‎ -y.

Adjective edit

heathy (comparative heathier, superlative heathiest)

  1. Resembling heath.
    • 1884, A C, F T Gregory, Journals of Australian Explorations[1]:
      The country consists of elevated sandy downs covered with heathy bushes and a few small banksia trees, it being only on the alluvial flats of the river that there is any grass or good soil.
    • 1894, John Muir, The Mountains of California[2]:
      Here make ground for a meadow; there, for a garden and grove, making it smooth and fine for small daisies and violets and beds of heathy bryanthus, spicing it well with crystals, garnet feldspar, and zircon."
  2. Abounding in heath.
    • 1786, Boswell, Life Of Johnson, Volume 5[3]:
      The hills here, and indeed all the heathy grounds in general, abound with the sweet-smelling plant which the Highlanders call gaul, and (I think) with dwarf juniper in many places.
    • 1869 May, Anthony Trollope, “The Clock House at Nuncombe Putney”, in He Knew He Was Right, volume I, London: Strahan and Company, [], →OCLC, page 113:
      The country about Nuncombe Putney is perhaps as pretty as any in England. It is beyond the river Teign, between that and Dartmoor, and is so lovely in all its variations of rivers, rivulets, broken ground, hills and dales, old broken, battered, time-worn timber, green knolls, rich pastures, and heathy common, that the wonder is that English lovers of scenery know so little of it.
    • 1948, Alec H. Chisholm, Bird Wonders of Australia, page 95:
      On a day in early spring two girls walked slowly about a heathy tangle in a quiet area of Sydney[.]