Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various herbs of the genera Cerastium and Stellaria, especially S. media, a European weed naturalized worldwide. The herb has small white flowers, petals with two deep lobes, and opposite leaves.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The popular name of Stellaria media, a common weed in cultivated and waste grounds, flowering throughout the year. It has a procumbent more or less hairy stem, with ovate pointed leaves, and many small white flowers. It is much used for feeding cage-birds, which are very fond of both leaves and seeds. Also called
chickenweed . - n. A name of several plants of other genera.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) The name of several caryophyllaceous weeds, especially Stellaria media, the seeds and flower buds of which are a favorite food of small birds.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various plants of the genus Stellaria
- n. any of various plants related to the common chickweed
Etymologies
- chick + weed (Wiktionary)
- So called because it is eaten by chickens. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Pretend the chickweed is the enemy fighting my pea patch here.”
“Alphonse Karr, who so greatly enjoyed his garden, and wrote of it with so much pleasure, says: The chickweed is endowed with a fecundity that no other plant possesses ....”
“Here the chickweed is a fetich precisely as is the flint arrow head which is put into the same decoction, in order that in the same mysterious manner its sharp cutting qualities may be communicated to the liquid and enable it to cut the worms into pieces.”
“The chickweed is a grass which is also a natural treatment of psoriasis.”
“When we used to have a very large aviary, I used to give plenty of 'chickweed' (in French - “du mouron”) to the birds - what a useful weed!”
“A British study on oilseed has recently concluded that it is not the GM crops that harm wildlife but the herbicides sprayed on the crops that significantly reduce the broad leaf weeds such as chickweed, a major bird food.”
Opportunities and risks of genetically modified crops in Africa
“Look in your local health food store for creams that contain moisturizing herbs such as chickweed, calendula, comfrey, and chamomile.”
“Growers should be monitoring their small corn that is up or that will be emerging shortly, especially in those fields that have or had winter annuals such as chickweed present.”
“Government, the writer continues, "Our kangaroo cats are like mutton but much leaner and there is a kind of chickweed so much in taste like spinach that no difference can be discerned.”
The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson With the journal of her first commander Lieutenant James Grant
“But don't delay any further - once the crop is at expanded cotyledon, early weeds, such as chickweed, shepherd's purse and cranesbill will also be emerging.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘chickweed’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
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the gardener and apothecary's
bryony, chamomile, frond, sweet bay, laurel, monkshood, henbane, hemlock, parsley, rosemary, thyme, lady's mantle and 140 more...
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a modern herbal
mugwort, horehound, hellebore, chamomile, comfrey, rosemary, calendula, rose, lavender, lamb's quarters, gamboge, mustard and 108 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for chickweed.
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