n.[C]

1. 芦苇；芦杆；茅草
   We tried to avoid the beds of reeds at the river curves.

   我们试图避开河弯处的芦苇滩。

2. （盖屋顶用的）干芦苇，麦秸[P]
3. 不可依靠的人（或物）
4. 芦笛，牧笛
5. 【音】簧舌，簧片
6. 簧乐器[P]

vt.

1. 用芦苇盖（屋顶）
2. 用芦苇装饰

n.

1. a tall, slender-leaved plant of the grass family, growing in water or on marshy ground. [Genera Phragmites and Arundo: several species.]
   ▸used in names of similar plants growing in wet habitats, e.g. bur-reed.
2. a tall, thin, straight stalk of a reed, used especially for thatching.
   ▸Brit. straw for thatching.
   ▸literary a rustic musical pipe made from reeds or straw.
3. a piece of thin cane or metal which vibrates in a current of air to produce the sound of various musical instruments, as in the mouthpiece of a clarinet or at the base of some organ pipes.
   ▸a wind instrument played with a reed.
4. (also broken reed) a weak or impressionable person.
5. literary an arrow.
6. a weaver's comb-like implement for separating the warp and positioning the weft.
7. (reeds) a set of semi-cylindrical adjacent mouldings like reeds laid together.
8. an electrical contact in a magnetically operated switch or relay.