Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A plant. Often used in combination: liverwort; milkwort.
- n. An infusion of malt that is fermented to make beer.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A plant; herb; vegetable. Wort is very frequent in old botanical names of plants, as in
bone- , bishop-, blood-, cole-, liver-, lung-, mead-, mug-, rib-, spear-, stitch-wort, etc. See colewort, liverwort, etc. - n. The infusion of malt which after fermentation becomes beer.
- n. An infusion of malt, formerly used in scurvy and as a dressing to foul ulcers.
- n. Same as whort.
Wiktionary
- n. A plant; herb; vegetable.
- n. Any of various plants or herbs. The word is usually used in combination to refer to specific plants, e.g. St. John’s wort; however, it may be used on its own as a generic term.
- n. Liquid extract from the ground malt and grain soaked in hot water, the mash, as one of the steps in making beer
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A plant of any kind.
- n. Cabbages.
- n. An infusion of malt which is unfermented, or is in the act of fermentation; the sweet infusion of malt, which ferments and forms beer; hence, any similar liquid in a state of incipient fermentation.
WordNet 3.0
- n. usually used in combination: `liverwort'; `milkwort'; `whorlywort'
- n. unfermented or fermenting malt
Etymologies
- From Middle English wort, worte, from Old English wyrt, wyrte ("brewing wort, new beer, spice"), from Proto-Germanic *wurtijō (“spice”), from Proto-Indo-European *werǝd-, *wrād- (“sprout, root”). Cognate with Dutch wort ("wort"), German Würze ("wort, seasoning, spice"), Danish urt ("beer wort"), Swedish vört ("beer wort"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old English wyrt; see wrād- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“When the malt has been sufficiently mashed, the wort is drawn off by the spigot, and it will be found that the eighteen gallons of water have only yielded about thirteen gallons of wort, and sometimes not so much.”
The Lady's Country Companion: or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
“An actor plays the part of master brewer, explaining the brewing process while stirring a steaming cauldron full of "wort" -- the mash that is mixed with yeast before beer is fermented.”
“Newer: the password validation - even mmmm … I think the st. john’s mmmm … I think the st. john’s wort is kicking in. this afternoon/evening I’ve gotten some amazing work done. all the goofy little problems with the work order database are just unravelling themselves, ever so neatly.”
mmmm…I think the st. john’s - emergency weblog; or: epersonae; or: elaine nelson
“The water that's added to the grains is called "liquor" (yes, confusing, get over it) and liquid that comes off the grains is called wort (pronounced "wert").”
“St. John's wort, which is often taken for depression, can alter the potency of certain prescription drugs.”
“The result is a sweet, brown liquid called the wort.”
Simon & Schuster: On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
“The American element is represented by the Pipe-wort, which is common, and the little water plant, _Naias flexilis_, which grows near Roundstone.”
The Sunny Side of Ireland How to see it by the Great Southern and Western Railway
“A root yielding a grateful bitter was used in lieu of hops, the name of which I have forgotten; but the corn which yields the wort is the holcus spicatus of botanists.”
“The fig-wort, which is generally two or three feet high, stands in one ditch fully eight feet, and the stem is more than half an inch square.”
“He had ceased to brew for some time; Cicely could, however, remember sipping the sweet wort, which is almost too sweet for the palate after childhood.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘wort’.
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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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phrontistery-w
from phrontistery.info
wack, wadmal, waftage, wafture, wagonette, wagtail, wainage, wainscot, wair, waits, wakerife, waldflute and 282 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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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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Wort to the wise
Brewing terms
wort, gruit, metheglin, mead, perry, mulsum, finings, irish moss, malt, hops, morat, melomel and 43 more...
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The Zymurgists Dictionary
Words associated with the art & science fermentation in brewing, winemaking and distilling.
zymurgy, airlock, bung, thin-layer chroma..., carboy, hop, mashtun, malt-kiln, malt-floor, mash-tun, wort, malt-house and 3 more...
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I do not like them, Sam I Am
Words that, for various reasons, I wish we could do without.
copacetic, gamut, horehound, lewd, membrane, metrics, mucous, mucus, negligee, nostril, odious, odor and 143 more...
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Lively Words
quick, quicksilver, cwic, quitch grass, cwice, vivify, viviparous, viper, weever, wyvern, viand, victual and 148 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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zanshin's Words
gargoyle, ennui, paradigm, aardvark, verisimilitude, ghoti, tenacity, nescience, guillemet, squonk, maven, moxie and 210 more...
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Jamaican Glossary
The liner notes that accompany Papa San's dancehall album God & i include this thoughtful list of Jamaican-to-American translations, to aid in understanding what the heck he's saying in each song.
yah, yeh, yuy, woulda, wort, wid, wi, wes', wen, whey, wau, wanda and 151 more...
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NTDW1
template, modal, sublingual, tandem, polycentric, septuagenarian, token, irrevocable, denotive, augural, aberrant, phlebotomy and 1188 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (W)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
wail, waistcoat, wales, wallflower, wand, wandering, wanderlust, waning, ward, wardrobe, warp, wassail and 97 more...
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ifjuly's list
favorite words. some are made up injokes between me and my husband or family.
skein, zaftig, july, bed, orifice, aesthete, ink, parce-que, desormais, cake, pusillanimous, pulse and 531 more...
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spamdad's Words
lambic, weizenbock, bock, zymurgy, vade mecum, quotidian, sesquipedalian, eremite, sphragis, privation, aegis, sui generis and 275 more...
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RabidCow's Words
piledrive, schism, poignant, garrote, reflex, fortitude, constitution, dexterity, charisma, nemesis, machiavellian, poop and 128 more...
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