wormwood

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“
Yes, I recall the wormwood, which is always a planted herb, so there must have been folks there before the Todds' day.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, especially A. absinthium, native to Europe, yielding a bitter extract used in making absinthe and in flavoring certain wines.
  2. noun Something harsh or embittering.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (15)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples

  • He would laugh over Swift's gall and wormwood, and would never be brought by my mother to acknowledge the defects in the Dean's character. —  Richard Carvel
  • Then he made a tile red-hot, and cast upon it a good handful of wormwood; after which he sprinkled the Greek wine; and when the wormwood was well soaked, he laid it on my breast, just where the bruise was visible to all. —  The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
  • He crashed through the scrub and vanished into the darkness. —  Stormwarden
  • Yes, I recall the wormwood, which is always a planted herb, so there must have been folks there before the Todds' day. —  The Country of the Pointed Firs
  • Yes, I recall the wormwood, which is always a planted herb, so there must have been folks there before the Todds 'day. —  The Country of the Pointed Firs
 

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Wormwood has been looked up 181 times, favorited once, listed 33 times, and commented on 3 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English wormwode, alteration (influenced by worm, worm, and wode, wood, perhaps from the use of its leaves as a vermifuge) of wermod, from Old English wermōd, from Germanic *wermōdaz.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English wormwod, an altered form, simulating worm + wood, of the earlier wermode, wermod, wormod, from Anglo-Saxon wermod = Middle Dutch wermoed, wermoet, wermōt, wermōde, wermēde, warmot, warmōde, etc., = Old High German werimuota, weramōte, wermuota, wormuota, Middle High German wermuot, wermüete, German wermuth (later F. vermout), wormwood; formation uncertain; apparently literally ‘keep-mind,’ preserver of the mind, from a supposed belief in its medicinal virtues (so hellebore was called in Anglo-Saxon wēdeberge, preservative against madness), from Anglo-Saxon werian (=D. weren, weeren = Middle High German weren, German wehren, etc.), defend, protect, keep, + mōd, mood, mind: see wear and mood.
 

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/ˈwərmwəd/
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