1A roof covering of straw, reeds, palm leaves, or a similar material.

1. 1.1Straw or a similar material used for a roof covering.
   ‘good thatch is difficult to obtain’
   More example sentences

   • ‘Roofing materials were thatch, turf, timber, tiles, slates, and lead.’
   • ‘These buildings could be substantial, consisting normally of a low wall of stone with a roof of thatch, skins, or other organic material supported by timbers.’
   • ‘Traditional building materials of mud (for walls) and thatch (for roofs) are being replaced by cement and tiles.’
   • ‘Huts are either circular or oblong with wattle (woven-stick) walls, plastered outside and inside with mud, and roofed with thatch.’
   • ‘At a time when fire-fighting equipment was virtually non-existent and buildings constructed of timber and thatch, town fires were a constant hazard.’
   • ‘Most of the homes of poor rural people are made of local materials, with floors of packed earth, walls of adobe or wattle and daub, and roofs of clay tiles or thatch.’
   • ‘Before long, mass-produced and processed building materials, such as Bedfordshire brick and Welsh slate, began to displace local stones and thatch.’
   • ‘The camp includes a group of tents, a temple, tin-roofed sheds and small temporary houses made of reclaimed timber and coconut thatch.’
   • ‘On top of this, they demonstrate just how clean and genuinely cosy homes built of stone, lime, mud and thatch can be.’
   • ‘In the south, which is warmer, most country folk live in houses made of straw, thatch, or palm leaves.’
   • ‘In the north, houses are rectangular and made from wooden planks or palm thatch.’
   • ‘In small towns and villages, new houses tend to be built from concrete blocks with metal roofs, but many are constructed from mud bricks and roofed with thatch.’
   • ‘Each lodge has luxury en suite accommodation in tents the size of bungalows, built on stilts under a roof of thatch, surrounded by an elephant-proof stockade.’
   • ‘Until the 1970s, houses throughout the group were open rectangular structures supported by pandanus posts and roofed with pandanus thatch.’
   • ‘They are made of wood or bamboo, often with walls of bamboo matting, and roofs of thatch or corrugated tin.’
   • ‘Opposite the entrance, across the courtyard, is a roughly circular room, which may have had a conical roof of turf or thatch.’
   • ‘In 1956, he married and built a two-storey house with heavy thatch on the roof.’
   • ‘Bryony sighed as she hauled a bunch of thatch from the lower beams of the roof and began to spread the bundles across the upper framework.’
   • ‘Lines of postholes on the axis of each building held wooden posts supporting a pitched roof, most probably of thatch.’
   • ‘Some were roofed with lead sheets, and some with thatch, and some with a mixture of both.’
   • ‘They supplied their own thatch from barley grown on the island and the thatcher would stay on the island till the job was done.’
   • ‘Construction materials include sticks and logs, earth, and thatch.’
2. 1.2informal The hair on a person's head, especially if thick or unruly.
   More example sentences

   • ‘a young man with a thatch of untidy blond hair’
   • ‘The stocky Dundonian has grown a thatch of snowy white hair and a matching beard for his role as a crazy psychiatrist in the film version of the international bestseller Running With Scissors.’
   • ‘He had brown eyes and a thatch of thick, shaggy brown hair.’
   • ‘He is a somewhat shambling but attractive denim-clad man in his late 50s, with a thatch of pewter-coloured hair, an engaging smile and a permanently amused gaze.’
   • ‘He's got a thatch of floppy brown hair that gives him a certain boyish look, but he's gray at the temples, and there are little fans of wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.’
   • ‘It was then that he noticed a thatch of blonde hair behind the couch.’
   • ‘He was a jovial-looking man with a broad smile, playful hazel eyes and a thatch of silver hair.’
   • ‘He's tanned, fit, and blessed with a full thatch of light-brown hair.’
   • ‘At 50, Sachs has a boyish thatch of brown hair and an expression of implacable earnestness.’
   • ‘Andy raked a hand through his thick thatch of brown hair and said, ‘Don't worry about the hot dog, okay?’’
   • ‘I gave his thick thatch of apparently genuine hair a tug to make sure.’
   • ‘The youngster let out a yelp and clutched at the crown of his thatch of tangled, sandy hair.’
   • ‘His astoundingly ugly head, with a pair of pale eyes and a slit-mouth under a conical red thatch, was thrown forward above his barrel chest, making his long face seem both inquisitive and moronic.’
   Synonyms

   mass, mane, mop, thatch, head, crop, bush, cloud, frizz, fuzz, foam, curls, tangle, chaos, cascade, quiff, halo
3. 1.3A matted layer of dead stalks, moss, and other material in a lawn.
   ‘scarify the lawn to remove debris and thatch’
   More example sentences

   • ‘All grass forms a layer of dead plant material, known as thatch, between the grass blades and the soil.’
   • ‘If conditions are dry enough, lawns will benefit from a good raking to remove debris, thatch and moss.’
   • ‘It's a good time to scarify lawns and remove the dead grass called thatch.’
   • ‘Inorganic chemical fertilizers encourage the accumulation of thatch in the top layer of the soil.’
   • ‘On a dry day, scarify the lawn to remove unwanted thatch and then aerate and top-dress any badly drained areas.’
   • ‘However, if the lawn has a thick layer of thatch, grass clippings won't decompose as efficiently.’
   • ‘If, after the first cut or two, your lawn looks a bit yellow and patchy, it is probably full of thatch - dead grass and moss - that will give the lawn a spongy feel.’
   • ‘Aerate in the fall to help break up compacted soil and remove excess thatch, allowing fertilizer nutrients, sunlight and air to infiltrate the soil.’
   • ‘They contain microorganisms that help to decompose any layers of thatch present.’
   • ‘Most warm-season grasses develop thatch, a spongelike layer of roots, runners, and grass blades just above the soil surface.’
   • ‘Rake to maintain a clean lawn, doing an especially thorough job at the end of the growing season to reduce thatch.’
   • ‘Rent a power rake and coring machine to remove thatch and improve air and water circulation around roots of Bermuda grass.’
   • ‘Besides raking leaves up, you want to rake deep into the soil to remove thatch.’
   • ‘That will start a mulching action that breaks down thatch.’
   • ‘Use a rake to remove winter debris, break up small amounts of thatch and lift the grass leaves and weed stems.’
   • ‘Heavy thatch may require a second application a week later.’
   • ‘It's amazing how much thatch you can rake out of a lawn if you do it every two or three years.’
   • ‘Aerate lawns at least once a season to help prevent the build-up of thatch.’
   • ‘When thatch gets too thick it prevents water and nutrients from penetrating to the soil and grass roots.’
   • ‘Scarifying is done in autumn to remove debris and to prevent the build-up of thatch.’

Cover (a roof or a building) with straw or a similar material.