Wormwood

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Wormwood \Worm"wood\, n. [AS. werm?d, akin to OHG. wermuota,
     wormuota, G. wermuth, wermut; of uncertain origin.]
     [1913 Webster]
     1. (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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Anything very bitter or grievous; bitterness.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Lest there should be among you a root that beareth
              gall and wormwood.                    --Deut. xxix.
                                                    18.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Roman wormwood} (Bot.), an American weed ({Ambrosia
        artemisiaefolia}); hogweed.
  
     {Tree wormwood} (Bot.), a species of Artemisia (probably
        {Artemisia variabilis}) with woody stems.
  
     {Wormwood hare} (Zool.), a variety of the common hare ({Lepus
        timidus}); -- so named from its color.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  wormwood
       n : any of several low composite herbs of the genera Artemisia
           or Seriphidium

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Wormwood
     Heb. la'anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists. It is noted
     for its intense bitterness (Deut. 29:18; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15;
     Amos 5:7). It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse,
     punitive suffering. In Amos 6:12 this Hebrew word is rendered
     "hemlock" (R.V., "wormwood"). In the symbolical language of the
     Apocalypse (Rev. 8:10, 11) a star is represented as falling on
     the waters of the earth, causing the third part of the water to
     turn wormwood.
     
       The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means
     "undrinkable." The absinthe of France is distilled from a
     species of this plant. The "southernwood" or "old man,"
     cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance, is
     another species of it.