Webster's 1828 Dictionary
QUITCH-GRASS
n.[properly quick-grass, probably from its vigorous growth, or the difficulty of eradicating it. ] Dog-grass; a species of grass which roots deeply and is not easily killed.
Webster's 1913 Dictionary
QUITCH
QUITCH Quitch, n.
1. (Bot. )
Defn: Same as Quitch grass.
2. Figuratively: A vice; a taint; an evil. To pick the vicious quitch Of blood and custom wholly out of him. Tennyson.
QUITCH GRASS
Quitch " grass `. Etym: [Properly quick grass, being probably so called from its vigorous growth, or from its tenacity of life. See Quick, and cf. Couch grass. ] (Bot. )
Defn: A perennial grass (Agropyrum repens ) having long running rootstalks, by which it spreads rapidly and pertinaciously, and so becomes a troublesome weed. Also called couch grass, quick grass, quick grass, twitch grass. See Illustration in Appendix.
New American Oxford Dictionary
quitch
quitch |kwiCH kwɪtʃ |(also quitch grass ) ▶noun another term for couch grass. ORIGIN Old English cwice, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to quick (with reference to its vigorous growth ).
Oxford Dictionary
quitch
quitch |kwɪtʃ |(also quitch grass ) ▶noun another term for couch 2. ORIGIN Old English cwice, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to quick (with reference to its vigorous growth ).
The Wordsmith Dictionary