Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A perennial aromatic European herb (Artemisia absinthium), naturalized in eastern North America and having pinnatifid, silvery silky leaves and numerous nodding flower heads. Also called common wormwood.
- n. A green liqueur having a bitter anise or licorice flavor and a high alcohol content, prepared from absinthe and other herbs, and now prohibited in many countries because of its toxicity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The common name of a highly aromatic liqueur of an opaline-green color and bitter taste; an abbreviation of extrait d'absinthe, extract of absinthium. It is prepared by steeping in alcohol or strong spirit bitter herbs, the chief of which are Artemisia Absinthium, A. mutellina, A. spicata; besides which some recipes mention plants that are not of this genus, and can be intended only to modify the bitter of the wormwoods; the liquor so flavored is then redistilled. It is considered tonic and stomachic. Its excessive use produces a morbid condition differing somewhat from ordinary alcoholism. Vertigo and epileptiform convulsions are marked symptoms, and hallucinations occur without other symptoms of delirium tremens. The use of it prevailed at one time among the French soldiers in Algiers, but it is now forbidden throughout the French army. The most common way of preparing it for drinking is by pouring it into water drop by drop or allowing it to trickle through a funnel with a minute opening; so prepared, it is called
la hussarde , and is common in the cafés of France, Italy, and Switzerland.
Wiktionary
- n. A distilled, highly alcoholic, anise-flavored liquor made from grande wormwood, anise, and other herbs.
- n. The herb Artemisia absinthium (grande wormwood).
- n. A distilled, highly alcoholic, anise-flavored liquor made from grande wormwood, anise, and other herbs.
- n. The herb Artemisia absinthium (grande wormwood).
WordNet 3.0
- n. aromatic herb of temperate Eurasia and North Africa having a bitter taste used in making the liqueur absinthe
- n. strong green liqueur flavored with wormwood and anise
Etymologies
- Middle English, wormwood, from Old French, from Latin absinthium, from Greek apsinthion.
Examples
“Pirates' Alley serves a drink they call absinthe, which is actually Pernod with the sugar cube/spoon/flame modern Czech ritual.”
“The woman explained that the plant, which she called absinthe, was seldom used except in that drink, reserved only for Mother Festivals.”
The Plains of Passage
“I'd marked out my seat and I snaffled it sharpish on Saturday night, got into the spirit of things by ordering a fake absinthe from the Bartender -- Ed. As the rest of the audience filed in, I saw Adam sit down at the table to my right, chatting to the audience members sat there.”
Adventures of a Couch-Hopping Scribbler Part 2: That Toddlin Town
“Maybe, but probably not because of any psychotropic chemical contained in the wormwood from which absinthe is distilled.”
“Indeed, the image that often comes foremost to mind when considering absinthe is a streetful of dissipated Parisian intellectuals, some of whom sunk into poverty and madness by dancing a bit too closely with the Green Fairy.”
“A glass of absinthe is as poetical as anything in the world.”
“La Fee Verte A glass of absinthe is as poetical as anything ...”
“It looks from the outside like the term louche, as applied to absinthe, comes from a reference to the whitening eye of cataract, but the French dictionary carries all three meanings: squinty, dissolute, and cloudy.”
“There is some evidence, however, that the herbal elements in absinthe actually have a mild speedball effect: some of them are stimulants and some are sedatives, and the resulting effect is one of heightened alertness and calmness.”
“Still, hundreds of explorers risk their lives each year to pick the fruit as it is said to 'taste better than chocolate' and be 'more addictive than pocky dipped in absinthe and twice as trippy'.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘absinthe’.
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Open List: Greens
A lits of greens: cooked leafy vegetables; pigments, paint names, compound words, etc; words and phrases that pertain to or contain "green". Please add your favorites!
See this list f...greenery, collard greens, mustard greens, turnip greens, green shoots, viridian green, malachite green, sap green, green grocer, radish greens, beet greens, spring green and 281 more...
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January 2012
bloviate, pastiche, apparat, facile, paroxysm, pique, bedfellow, pedigree, tutelage, protege, protégé, retroactive and 196 more...
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What the H?
Words that I could probably spell correctly without having to look them up every single damn time were it not for an apparently extraneous and randomly placed h.
jodhpur, diarrhea, ankh, myrrh, hemorrhoids, baghdad, rhombus, rhythm, hemorrhage, sheikh, catarrh, maharajah and 21 more...
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rolls off the tongue
Words you love saying because they feel and sound so good!
(Not to be conflated with words you love saying because they are onomatopoeic, I have another list for that)gubernatorial, predeliction, quibbling, propensity, proclivity, insidious, nebulous, garble, crabapple, piddling, prattle, wheedling and 11 more...
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The Worm List
List of all things wormy.
hookworm, earworm, roundworm, corn earworm, bollworm, pinworm, whipworm, earthworm, heartworm, polychete, teredo, lugworm and 53 more...
sionnach Absinthe
Jan 16, 2009
elgiad007 Absinthe makes the heart go yonder. Nov 7, 2008
ofravens waiting for the night,
with absinthe eye
cocked on the lone, late,
passer-by.
from "Prospect," Sylvia Plath Apr 14, 2008
sionnach If you can have a meatloaf sundae, why not a casu marzu sundae? With a little absinthe, now legally available in the U.S. (in California, anyway). Jan 11, 2008
misterpolly Absinthe makes the tart grow fonder. Jan 11, 2008
brtom "Absinthe, the greeneyed monster." Joyce, Ulysses, 15 Jan 1, 2008
chained_bear For our posterity: see also absinthetinence. Nov 8, 2007
yarb I'll always remember your hart going flounder, skipvia. Splendid! Nov 8, 2007
arby I think these puns are going to kill me first! Oct 12, 2007
skipvia If the first two courses didn't induce suicidal tendencies, perhaps the absinthe would. It would be a mercy killing. Oct 12, 2007
chained_bear Skipvia!! Blahahahahaha!!! I just saw your comment!!! I am ROLLING!!!
Makes the hart go flounder!!! Aaaaaaaaaaaha hahaha!!! Oct 12, 2007
reesetee *retching* Oct 11, 2007
sionnach Maybe a little creme de menthe? Oct 11, 2007
npydyuan And then drown your eater's remorse with a healthy dose of nepenthe! Oct 11, 2007
skipvia I think I'm feeling a Wordie dinner here. Start it off with stinkheads on cocktail crackers, move along with a bit of casu marzu on toast points, and wash it all down with some absinthe.
Mmmm... Oct 11, 2007
reesetee *grrrooooooaaaaannn* Oct 11, 2007
skipvia A while back there was a story about a deer who was so completely plastered on absinthe that he strode out into the middle of a busy highway, lay down, and flailed his legs in the air for several hours. That's right...absinthe makes the hart go flounder. Oct 11, 2007
abraxaszugzwang booooooooooo Feb 25, 2007
seanahan Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder? Feb 25, 2007
vera absinthe-it's the drink that makes you want to kill yourself instantly. (Bernard, Black Books Season 1) Dec 8, 2006