sargasso

A brown alga, of the genus Sargassum, that forms large, floating masses.

SARGASSO, the Sea-Lentile.

Thus the productions of Jamaica, and other places bordering on the gulph of Mexico, may be firſt brought by the ſtream out of the gulph, inveloped in the ſargaſſo or alga of the gulph round Cape Florida, and hurried by the current either along the American ſhore, or ſent into the ocean in the courſe along the ſtream, and then by the ſet of the ſtream; and the prevailing winds, which generally blow two-thirds of the year, wafted to the ſhores of Europe, where they are found.

Also Sargasso: a confused, tangled mass or situation.

Afghanistan is a sargasso of wrecks from earlier civilizations; buried in its earth are hordes of Greek coins, Aramaic inscriptions, Saljuq mosques, and Mazdakite fire temples, flaking away in their own dust, forgotten in valleys where the local villagers carry away their bricks for cattle folds.

His [Philip K. Dick's] ideas provide diegetic anchors for digitally oriented directors [...] whose works might otherwise float off into a Sargasso of insignificance.

A part of an ocean or sea characterized by floating masses of sargassos, like the Sargasso Sea.

Of Sargassos or Weedy Seas. [...] [T]he most remarkable of them all, is that in the North Atlantic. [Christopher] Columbus passed through it on his first voyage of discovery to America. […] The sargassos of the southern hemisphere are not so well marked as this, nor are they as rich in drift or floating matter.

[H]eld safe and sound, I'd find the South Equatorial at last, at last, and safe from all the Sargassoes, the Scillas and Charibs, I'd swoop beautifully and lightly, drifting with the sweet currents of the South down the edge of the Brazilian Highlands to the Waters of Peace.

Ellipsis of Sargasso Sea.

Alternative form of sargasso (“a confused, tangled mass or situation”).

I cannot bear the striking of your colors, that Sargasso of / passionate forms.

His [Philip K. Dick's] ideas provide diegetic anchors for digitally oriented directors […] whose works might otherwise float off into a Sargasso of insignificance.