α. 1600s 1800s– devil's gut.
β. 1600s– devil's guts.
devil's gutsn.
/ˌdɛvlz ˈɡʌts/, U.S. /ˌdɛv(ə)lz ˈɡəts/ 1. A bindweed, esp. field bindweed, Convolvulus arvensis; (also) the long roots of a bindweed.
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1664 R. Turner Βοτανολογία 41 It is also called Convolvulus, Orobanche, with many other names.., and in English, Bindeweed, Withwinde, and Devils Gut, &c.
1778 J. Abercrombie Universal Gardener & Botanist at Convolvulus The roots run deep, and are so very tough, that gardeners in wrath often call them the devil's guts.
1879 G. F. Jackson Shropshire Word-bk. 117 The name of Devil's Guts is given to this plant [sc. Convolvulus arvensis] from the circumstance of its roots running very deep into the ground, and being difficult of extirpation.
1992 H. Mitchell One Man's Garden vi. 130 Country people rightly call bindweed ‘devil's guts’.
1999 Radio Times 26 Feb. 94/2 Dianne Beedle's back garden (an unimpressive area full of bindweed or ‘devil's guts’).
2.
a. The parasitic plant dodder (genus Cuscuta), which has thin leafless stems which wind around other plants. Now rare.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > parasitic plants > [noun] > dodder
doddera1300
hellweedc1510
choke-fitch1562
epithyme1585
podagry1657
devil's guts1670
love bush1814
love vine1833
flax-dodder1852
red tangle1857
fairies' hair1868
1670 J. Ray Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ 88 In Sussexia rustici et agricolæ eam execrantur, odiosis nominibus Hellweed et Devils guts appellantes.
1779 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 340 Dodder, Hell-weed, Devil's-guts, or Scald. July.
1878 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 149 Devil's Guts, Cuscuta, various species, especially C. europæa.
1908 J. E. Howitt Perennial Sow Thistle (Ontario Dept. Agric.) 18 Dodder, Devil's Gut, or Strangle Weed (Cuscuta epithymum, Murr.).
1920 W. E. Brenchley Weeds of Farm Land xiii. 212 Cuscuta.—Devil's guts, dodder, dother, fordboh, laced thyme, strangle-weed.
1948 Farm & Seed Grass Man. (J. C. McCullough Seed Co.) 32 Other names [for dodder]: Love Vine, Strangle Weed, Devil's Hair, Devil's Gut, Hellbird.
b. Australian. Any plant of the genus Cassytha (family Lauraceae), the members of which are dodder-like parasitic plants with almost leafless twining stems. Also called devil's twine, dodder laurel.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > poisonous or harmful plants > parasitic plants > [noun] > other
beech-drops1815
rafflesia1822
Scotchman hugging the (also a) Creole1828
Brugmansia1832
John Crow nose1844
pinedrops1848
nettle-blight1849
Scotch attorney1864
Jim Crow's nose1866
witchweed1881
devil's guts1889
1889 J. H. Maiden Useful Native Plants Austral. 14 This and other species of Cassytha are called ‘Dodder-laurel’. The emphatic name of ‘Devil's guts’ is largely used. It frequently connects bushes and trees by cords, and becomes a nuisance to the traveller.
1905 Contrib. U.S. National Herbarium 9 219 Devil's guts (Australia). A leafless, wiry, twining parasitic plant with the habit of Cuscuta, very common in thickets.
1997 R. C. Cambie & A. A. Brewis Anti-Fertility Plants Pacific 69/2 In Australia it [sc. Cassytha filiformis] is called the ‘bush dodder’, ‘devil's twine’, or ‘devil's guts’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1664