Definitions

Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word wolf's-bane.

Examples

  • Thy path is full of rocks and boulders, there is no outlet near, it is overgrown with creepers and wolf's-bane.

    Patriarchal Palestine 1889

  • She knew it meant death, for wolf's-bane was mixed with the last draughts he had taken.

    A Dream of Empire Or, The House of Blennerhassett William Henry Venable 1878

  • There is little in its pages to recall the identity of the editor; but in one place he quotes as follows from Lord Bacon: “The ointment which witches use is made of the fat of children digged from their graves, and of the juices of smallage, cinquefoil, and wolf's-bane, mingled with the meal of fine wheat,” and hopes that none of his readers will try to compound it.

    A Study Of Hawthorne Lathrop, George P 1876

  • In the tale of "Young Goodman Brown," when Goody Cloyse says, "I was all anointed with the juice of small-age and cinquefoil and wolf's-bane," and the Devil continues, "'Mingled with fine wheat and the fat of a new-born babe,' -- 'Ah, your worship knows the recipe,' cried the old lady, cackling aloud."

    A Study of Hawthorne George Parsons Lathrop 1874

  • There is little in its pages to recall the identity of the editor; but in one place he quotes as follows from Lord Bacon: "The ointment which witches use is made of the fat of children digged from their graves, and of the juices of smallage, cinquefoil, and wolf's-bane, mingled with the meal of fine wheat," and hopes that none of his readers will try to compound it.

    A Study of Hawthorne George Parsons Lathrop 1874

  • At his feet were wide open the yawning jaws of a cavern, obstructed by great tufts of aconite (wolf's-bane), with sombre foliage; one would have said that they kept guard over some crime in which they had been accomplices.

    Samuel Brohl and Company Victor Cherbuliez 1864

  • It was a species of aconite, or wolf's-bane, and _very_ similar to the kindred species, _Aconitum napellus_, or "monk's hood," of Europe, whose roots furnish the most potent of poisons.

    The Plant Hunters Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains Mayne Reid 1850

  • Not being permitted to poison the lake with wolf's-bane, and having no bamboo to make wicker-work of, he looked around for some other substance wherewith to construct a net; and soon found the very thing itself, in the shape of a plant that grew in abundance throughout the valley, and particularly near the shores of the lake.

    The Plant Hunters Adventures Among the Himalaya Mountains Mayne Reid 1850

  • That all their comforts at home shall be poisoned and embittered to them: I will feed this people with wormwood (or rather with wolf's-bane, for it signifies a herb that is not wholesome, as wormwood is though it be bitter, but some herb that is both nauseous and noxious), and I will give them water of gall (or juice of hemlock or some other herb that is poisonous) to drink.

    Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume IV (Isaiah to Malachi) 1721

  • Aconitum (or wolf's-bane) for example, was reputed to "prevail mightily against the bitings of Scorpions, and is of such force that if the Scorpion pass by where it groweth, and touch the same, presently he becometh dull, heavy, and senseless, and if the same

    Stories of the Border Marches Jeanie Lang

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.