Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. 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.
- n. Something harsh or embittering.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A. somewhat woody perennial herb, Artemisia Absinthium, native in Europe and Asiatic Russia, found in old gardens and by roadsides in North America. This plant is proverbial for its bitterness, and was in medicinal use among the ancients. It is of a highly tonic property, and is still used in Europe for weak digestion; it was formerly employed for intermittents and some other troubles, and was once regarded as a vermifuge. It is very largely consumed, with a few other species, in preparing the absinthe beverage of the French. (See
absinthe and absinthium (with cut)). The name is extended to the genus, or particularly to species closely related to this; various species have their own names, as southernwood, mugwort, tarragon, santonica, and sage-brush. - n. Figuratively.
- n. Bitterness.
- n. By transference of the name, the common ragweed, Ambrosia artemisiæfolia, a bitter plant with foliage dissected somewhat like that of an artemisia.
Wiktionary
- n. botany An intensely bitter herb (various plants in genus Artemisia) used in the production of absinthe and vermouth, and as a tonic.
- n. Anything that causes bitterness or affliction.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A composite plant (Artemisia Absinthium), having a bitter and slightly aromatic taste, formerly used as a tonic and a vermifuge, and to protect woolen garments from moths. It gives the peculiar flavor to the cordial called absinthe. The volatile oil is a narcotic poison. The term is often extended to other species of the same genus.
- n. Anything very bitter or grievous; bitterness.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of several low composite herbs of the genera Artemisia or Seriphidium
Etymologies
- From Middle English wormwode, alteration of wermode ("wormwood"), from Old English wermōd, wormōd ("wormwood, absinthe"), from Proto-Germanic *wermōdaz (“wormwood”). Cognate with Middle Low German wermode, wermede ("wormwood"), German Wermut ("wormwood"). See vermouth. (Wiktionary)
- 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. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“[ "Make wormwood wine thus: take _aqua vitæ_ and malmsey, of each like much, put it in a glasse or bottell with _a few leaves of dried wormwood_, and let it stand certain days,] and strein out a little spoonfull, and drink it with a draught of ale or wine: [it may be long preserved.]" [”
“In Europe, however, this isn't the case; "wormwood" is used only for the absinth-producing species, Artemisia absinthium.”
“The myth of absinthe's mind-altering properties is based on the idea that a chemical in wormwood called thujone causes hallucinations and other mental instability, and even addiction.”
“Dr. Magnan would later blame the chemical thujone, contained in wormwood, for these effects. [wiki]”
“No wonder your home brew tasted awful: wormwood is exceedingly bitter.”
“Confusing mugwort with wormwood is at the level of confusing potato (Solanum tuberosum) with black nightshade (Solanum nigrum) because they share the genus Solanum.”
“Yes, I recall the wormwood, which is always a planted herb, so there must have been folks there before the Todds 'day.”
“Among the ingredients they searched for was thujone, a substance found in wormwood that some have claimed existed in higher quantities in pre-ban absinthe than in the modern stuff, and might have caused effects that we don’t see today.”
“The drink had been a nineteenth-century fad with a bad rep because an herbal ingredient called wormwood had a marijuana-like effect.”
“Well, it is a type of Artemisia, commonly called wormwood one species of which is also known as Absinthe, and it is used in herbal preparations and Asian cuisine – in fact, one of my favorite foods is buckwheat Soba flavored with the fresh leafiness of Mugwort, which gives a really interesting greenish tint to the noodles.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wormwood’.
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Beer and Brewing
Words about beer and the making of it.
airlock, bung, carboy, diversol, hops, mashtun, beer, sparge, trub, wort, malt, malt liquor and 184 more...
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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Fruits of Linguistic Invention
bananosecond, fruitylicious, appled, kiwiclock, boomorange, damsonic, pearforate, graspberry, squince, datelier, caroberate, plumpire and 143 more...
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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 11250 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
abaca, abdominal, abrasive, absorbent, absorber, accelerator, accessory, account book, accumulator, acebutolol, acetaldehyde, acetamide and 4515 more...
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EN - newSPEAK
Buzzwords of our time
actionable, administrivia, advermation, agreeance, backbone provider, back-sourcing, baked in, bandwidth, barn raising, Barneyware, belly-buttons, Below Zeros and 1078 more...
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phrontistery-w
from phrontistery.info
wack, wadmal, waftage, wafture, wagonette, wagtail, wainage, wainscot, wair, waits, wakerife, waldflute and 282 more...
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The Worm List
List of all things wormy.
hookworm, earworm, roundworm, corn earworm, bollworm, pinworm, whipworm, earthworm, heartworm, polychete, teredo, lugworm and 54 more...
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Herbs: How Fragrant, How Delicious
Delicious scents in an edible nibble.
zedoary, zahtar, yarrow, wormwood, wasabi, verbena, valerian, thyme, Thai basil, tarragon, sweet basil, sorrel and 59 more...
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words that I don't even imagine the m...
abishag, bellibone, cattywampus, dike-jumper, eupeptic, frumious, gazabo, hackeneyed, iatronudic, kickshaw, linsey-woolsey, maelcryptovestime... and 10 more...
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Amalgamations
Words that have been smashed together.
keystone, touchstone, footprint, thunderhead, seesaw, textbook, leftovers, watchword, afterbirth, fieldwork, outcast, statesman and 148 more...
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jeffreytwhitney's list
abecedarian, assonance, prolix, avuncular, baleful, borborygmus, accismus, atavism, catachresis, coruscant, callipygian, carbuncle and 117 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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JesusIsLord's Words
debauchery, plethora, wiki, numinous, wormwood, scribe, gelded, mithridate, orthogonal, jaculiferous, jaculate, jactitation and 415 more...
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harry potter words
quidditch, apparate, disapparate, lumos, snitch, pensieve, dementor, azkaban, wingardium, leviosa, horcrux, bludger and 376 more...
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imogen's Words
coagitate, cloche, harum-scarum, foxglove, cryptolect, cant, roux, angora, duff, ulysse, schadenfreude, pepperpot and 315 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for wormwood.

Prolagus Calvin's teacher. Apr 15, 2009
qroqqa Not from worm + wood. The medial -w- first appears around 1400; the earlier English was wermod, of unknown etymology. The German form Wermuth (modern Wermut) gives us vermouth via French. Apr 15, 2009
sonofgroucho As opposed to woodworm? Nov 25, 2007