Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An herb (Fumaria officinalis) native to Eurasia, having finely divided leaves and small, spurred, purplish flowers. Also called earth smoke.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The common name for species of the genus Fumaria.
- n. A smoking-room.
- n. The hollow-wort, Capnoides cavum.
Wiktionary
- n. botany A plant of the taxonomic genus Fumaria, which are annual herbaceous flowering plants in the family Fumariaceae, native to temperate Europe and Asia.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) The common uame of several species of the genus Fumaria, annual herbs of the Old World, with finely dissected leaves and small flowers in dense racemes or spikes. F. officinalis is a common species, and was formerly used as an antiscorbutic.
WordNet 3.0
- n. delicate European herb with greyish leaves and spikes of purplish flowers; formerly used medicinally
Etymologies
- Middle English fumetere, from Old French fumeterre, from Medieval Latin fūmus terrae : Latin fūmus, smoke + Latin terrae, genitive of terra, dry land, earth; see ters- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Bird's-foot trefoil and bugloss, poppies and cornflowers, fumitory and fleabane – there were about 20 species all in bloom and, aside from the great surge of colour, the highlight for me was the bumblebees, mainly common carder and red-tailed bumblebees, that trafficked through the flowers all day long.”
“* I learned that Uncle Jean-Claude collected fumitory as a kid, selling it for centimes to the pharmacist, who, in turn, made up potions that cured everything from conjunctivitis to evil spirits.”
“Helleboratus major and minor in Quercetan, and Syrupus Genistae for hypochondriacal melancholy in the same author, compound syrup of succory, of fumitory, polypody, &c.”
“As syrup of borage (there is a famous syrup of borage highly commended by Laurentius to this purpose in his tract of melancholy), de pomis of king Sabor, now obsolete, of thyme and epithyme, hops, scolopendria, fumitory, maidenhair, bizantine, &c.”
“No help for it: this would be a great day for collecting rare specimens of variegated shepherd's purse or green fumitory.”
“The climbing fumitory comes up of itself from seed every year, and is now running over bushes, stakes, and strings, and is full of fern-like leaves and flesh-colored flowers.”
“Breakfast under the same tree, sitting on the same patch of rose-coloured flowers -- a sort of fumitory (_Corydalus rutaefolia_) -- followed by another nine-hour bivouac, brought us to 5 P.M. and the extreme limit of boredom, when lo! the shikaris burst upon us in a state of frenzied excitement to announce the bear!”
“Common weeds of cultivation are Fumaria parviflora, a near relation of the English fumitory, Silene conoidea, and two Spergulas (Caryophyllaceae), and Sisymbrium Irio”
“Certainly few woodland dwellers have more delicately beautiful foliage than the fumitory tribe.”
“Gathered quite a pretty bunch of flowers; asters, everlastings, golden-rods, bird-bell, innocence, pink and yellow fumitory, and a bunch of white blackberry flowers, blooming out of season.”
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