Also varech. [F. varech, varec (OF. warec, werek, verec, vrec, etc.), ad. old Scand. *wrek: see WRECK sb.]
1. Sea-weed.
1676. Phil. Trans., II. 594. The Sea-Fox, in whose stomach they found a branch of the Sea-herb Varec.
1783. Justamond, trans. Raynal’s Hist. Indies, VI. 294. The most ordinary of these manures is the Varec, a sea-weed which is periodically throw’n upon the coast by the sea-tide.
1836. Sir G. Head, Home Tour, 289. I observed large quantities of varech or sea-weed on the beach [at Robin Hood’s Bay].
1889. Guernsey News, 1 Feb. The gathering of varech in Herm commences to-morrow.
attrib. 1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 36. Then, dry and moist, the varech limit-line.
2. An impure carbonate of soda obtained from sea-weed.
1844. Fownes, Chem., 234. Carbonate of Soda…. The barilla … is thus produced in several places on the coast of Spain…. That made in Brittany is called varec.
1860. Ure’s Dict. Arts (ed. 5), III. 940. Varec, the name of kelp made on the coast of Normandy.
