U.S. [? f. EVER adv. + GLADE.
The formation is irregular, and the intended etymological sense uncertain; perh. ever was used to mean ‘interminable.’]
A marshy tract of land mostly under water and covered in places with tall grass; chiefly in pl. as the name of a large swampy region of South Florida. Also attrib., as Everglade kite (Rostrhamus sociabilis), a bird inhabiting the everglades of Florida and other parts. Everglade State, Florida.
1827. Tanner, Map Florida, Extensive Inundated Region … generally called the Everglades.
1837. J. L. Williams, Florida, 13. The back country presents a singular alternation of savannas, hammocks, lagoons, and grass ponds, called altogether the Everglades.
1841. in Webster.
1841. Catlin, N. Amer. Ind., II. xxxvi. 33. Her [Florida’s] swamps and everglades … gloom the thoughts of the wary traveller.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 153. A very large purchase had been made by one company in the Florida everglades.
1860. Darwin, in Life & Lett. (1887), II. 300. All the pigs being black in the Everglades of Virginia.
