Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several Eurasian plants of the genus Leonurus, especially L. cardiaca, a weed having clusters of small purple or pink flowers and spine-tipped calyx lobes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A labiate plant, Leonurus Cardiaca, which grows in waste places. It has sometimes been used in amenorrhea.
- n. The mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, formerly used for uterine affections.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A labiate herb (Leonurus Cardiaca), of a bitter taste, used popularly in medicine; lion's tail.
- n. The mugwort. See mugwort.
WordNet 3.0
- n. bitter Old World herb of hedgerows and woodland margins having toothed leaves and white or pale pink flowers
Etymologies
- From mother + wort. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English moderwort : moder, mother, womb (from its use in treating diseases of the uterus); see mother1 + wort, wort; see wort1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
““‘In the Court of the Inquisition, a motherwort was a person who assisted in apprehending and imprisoning the accused.’””
“Oh, no, thought Miss Trent, and only just managed, by a quick turn of the wrist, to avert a motherwort deluge.”
“It suited Miss Trent, however, and she always found motherwort tea soothing.”
“The Greeks used motherwort to relieve the pain from childbirth and as a tranquilizer.”
“I'm going to be in the same boat as you soon but we can't afford it, so I'll be using motherwort a herbal narcotic excellent for mothers! and blessed thistle, a herbal antidepressant type thing that's excellent for lactation as well.”
“Next, one would use blood-moving herbs such as motherwort Leonurus cardiaca, angelica, hyssop, hawthorn berries, and rose hips.”
“But my personal favorite is ‘motherwort, an herb of the mint family, prickly, a bitter taste …’”
“Gwenhidwy likes to drink a lot, grain alcohol mostly, mixed in great strange mad-scientist concoctions with beef tea, grenadine, cough syrup, bitter belch-gathering infusions of blue scullcap, valerian root, motherwort and lady's-slipper, whatever's to hand really.”
“-- Take the leaves of motherwort and thoroughwort, and the bark of poplar root; equal parts.”
Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889
“Not less closely did such old garden weeds as motherwort, groundsel, chickweed, and wild mustard cling to the white man.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘motherwort’.
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Worts and all
I have in mind the worts associated with a green thumb rather than a green beer - but as you can see by the name, I'll accept anything you have to offer.
butterwort, spiderwort, quillwort, woundwort, nipplewort, bellwort, liverwort, milkwort, water pennywort, navelwort, toothwort, wort and 128 more...
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A Mother of a List
Figurative 'mother' expressions.
mother-water, mother-liquor, mother-lye, mother-of-vinegar, mother-pearl, mother-of-pearl, mother-queen, motherboard, mothership, motherland, motherlode, motherload and 30 more...
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