licorice

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A Mediterranean perennial plant (Glycyrrhiza glabra) having blue flowers, pinnately compound leaves, and a sweet, distinctively flavored root.
2. n. The root of this plant, used as a flavoring in candy, liqueurs, tobacco, and medicines.
3. n. A confection made from or flavored with the licorice root.
4. n. Any of various similar plants.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A leguminous plant, Glycyrrhiza glabra, whose root yields the licorice of commerce. It is a perennial herbaceous plant growing 4 or 5 feet high, sparingly branched, with pinnate leaves and bluish pea-like flowers in spikes. The roots grow several feet long and an inch or more thick. Other plants of the genus are also called licorice.
2. n. An economic product, either the root of this plant or an extract from it. The former is called licorice-root or licorice; the latter is called stick-licorice, Spanish juice, or Italian extract of licorice, and is obtained by boiling the crushed root and evaporating the infusion, the residuum being rolled into sticks. The substance thus secured is dry and brittle, with a shining fracture, and when pure is entirely soluble in water, but is often grossly adulterated. Licorice is used medicinally chiefly as a demulcent, especially iu bronchial affections. It is also employed in making confectionery, in brewing, and in the manufacture of tobacco. The extract is prepared extensively in Mediterranean Europe, and latterly in the United States from imported root.
3. n. The plant also called rest-harrow, Ononis arvensis. Its root is used by children in place of licorice.
4. n. In America, a member of the true licorice genus, Glycyrrhiza lepidota, found chiefly far north-west; also, Galium circæzans and G. lanceolatum, on account of a sweetish root.
5. n. In Australia, Teucrium corymbosum, a sort of germander.

Wiktionary

1. n. The plant Glycyrrhiza glabra, or sometimes in North America the related American Licorice plant Glycyrrhiza lepidota.
2. n. A type of candy made from that plant's dried root or its extract.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Glycyrrhiza (Glycyrrhiza glabra), the root of which abounds with a sweet juice, and is much used in demulcent compositions.
2. n. The inspissated juice of licorice root, used as a confection and for medicinal purposes.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a black candy flavored with the dried root of the licorice plant
2. n. deep-rooted coarse-textured plant native to the Mediterranean region having blue flowers and pinnately compound leaves; widely cultivated in Europe for its long thick sweet roots