Etymology

Noun

1. A straw, wire, stick, etc., used chiefly to point out letters to children when learning to read.

   • 1997: ‘Now then,’ Mason rapping upon the Table’s Edge with a sinister-looking Fescue of Ebony, whose List of Uses simple Indication does not quite exhaust, whilst the Girls squirm pleasingly — Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon

2. A hardy grass commonly used to border golf fairways in temperate climates. Any member of the genus Festuca.