wormwoodn.
/ˈwəːmwʊd/, U.S. /ˈwərmˌhʊd/ 1. allusively.1672 R. Wild Poetica Licentia in Let. Declar. Liberty Conscience 27 This bitter Cup hath Roman Wormwood in 't.
a. The plant Artemisia Absinthium, proverbial for its bitter taste. The leaves and tops are used in medicine as a tonic and vermifuge, and for making vermouth and absinthe; formerly also to protect clothes and bedding from moths and fleas, and in brewing ale. It yields a dark green oil.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > medicinal and culinary plants > medicinal and culinary plant or part of plant > [noun] > wormwood
wermodc725
mugworteOE
absinthiumOE
wormwooda1400
absinthc1429
Pontic wormwood1551
Roman wormwood1551
mouse-wort1607
a1400–50 Stockh. Med. MS 11 For to makyn surripe of violet; it. of wormwode.
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 530/1 Wyrmwode, herbe, absinthium.
1486 Bk. St. Albans, Hawking c v A medecyne for an hawke that hath mites. Take the Iuce of wormewode and put it ther thay be and thei shall dye.
1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 18 Wher chamber is swept, & ye wormewood is strowne, no flea for his life, dare abide to be knowne.
1573 in J. Gage Hist. & Antiq. Hengrave, Suffolk (1822) 201 For wormewoode to lay amongst the bedding at Coleman Streete, xij d.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet i. iii. 32 When it did tast the wormwood on the nipple of my dug, & felt it bitter. View more context for this quotation
?1610 J. Fletcher Faithfull Shepheardesse ii. sig. D1v These for frenzy be A speedy and a soueraigne remedie. The bitter Wormewood, Sage and Marigold.
a1632 T. Middleton & J. Webster Any Thing for Quiet Life (1662) ii. sig. Cv He burnt Wormwood in't, to kill the Fleas i'th Rushes.
1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. i, in Poems 58 And Artimisia grows, where Wormwood grew.
1855 ‘E. S. Delamer’ Kitchen Garden 140 Wormwood gives its flavour to the ‘purl’ of the English workman.
1899 R. Bridges Idle Flowers xv Ragwort and stiff Wormwood And straggling Mignonette.
b. With qualifying word, designating species of Artemisia and some similar plants; as† French wormwood n. Obsolete A. gallica or A. Santonica.† holy wormwood n. Obsolete A. Santonica. Pontic wormwood n., Roman wormwood n. A. pontica or A. Absinthium. sea wormwood n. A. maritima. tree wormwood n. A. arborescens of the Mediterranean. Also Roman wormwood n. Ambrosia artemisiæfolia. wild wormwood n. Parthenium Hysterophorus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > Artemisia or mugwort
mugworteOE
artemisiaOE
mugweeda1400
motherwort1440
matricary1523
French wormwood1548
holy wormwood1548
sea-mugwort1548
sea-wormwood1548
tree wormwood1548
Roman wormwood1551
southernwood1577
garden cypress1578
mouse-wort1607
field southernwood1739
sage1805
hyssop1807
sage-bush1807
appleringie1808
absinth1841
sage-brush1850
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > feverfew
feverfewOE
adrelwurta1300
featherfew?a1300
whitewort?c1400
matricary1523
St. Peter's wort1526
parthenium1548
matricaria1664
wild wormwood1696
mugworta1726
whitehead1864
golden feather1867
feather-bow1880
flirt-wort1882
1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. A.iiij Wormwod pontike..in englishe maye be also called wormwod gentle.
1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. A.iiijv Absinthium santonicum..maye be called in englishe frenche wormwod.
1548 W. Turner Names of Herbes sig. A.v Frenche wormwod is weaker then Sea wormwod is.
1551– Herbal i. A iiij Ponticum absinthium..maye be named in english, wormwode gentle or wormwode Romane, Wormwode pontyke.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. ii. 5 The second kinde of Wormwood is called..in Latine Seriphium, and Absynthium Marinum... In English Sea wormwood.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. ii. 6 Santoni wormwood, or French wormwood.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 940 It is called in English small leafed Wormwood, Romaine Wormwood, garden or Cypres Wormwood, and French Wormwood.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 941 Holie Wormwood..called Sementina, & Semen sanctum..beareth that seede which we haue in vse, called Wormseede.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 943 Absinthium arborescens. Tree Wormwood.
1696 H. Sloane Catal. Plantarum in Jamaica 127 Artemisia humilior flore majore albo... Wild Wormwood.
1721 Queen's Closet 10 To make Syrup of Wormwood. Take Roman Wormwood, or Pontick Wormwood, half a Pound.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Absinthium The Roman and Sea Wormwoods are great Creepers at the Root... The Tree Wormwood rises to be a Shrub five or six Foot high.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 332 Wormwood, Wild, Parthenium.
1854 H. D. Thoreau Walden 282 It was over-run with Roman wormwood and beggar-ticks.
1864 A. H. R. Grisebach Flora Brit. W. Indian Islands 789 Wormwood, wild, Parthenium Hysterophorus.
c. salt of wormwood, an impure carbonate of potash, obtained from the ashes of wormwood.
ΘΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > vegetable extracts or preparations > [noun] > potash
gravelled ashes1579
salt of wormwood1617
salt of tartar1646
pearl ash1703
kali1799
pearls1809
1617 J. Woodall Surgions Mate 275 The salt of wormwood is esteemed hot and dry like the hearb.
1666 A. Wood Life & Times (1892) II. 95 Salt of wormwood and juyce of lemmon.
1756 F. Home Exper. Bleaching 277 To four pints of lime-water..I added 20 gr. of salt of wormwood.
1769 W. Buchan Domest. Med. ii. 179 An ounce of the bark..with dram a of salt of wormwood.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. I. 95/1.
2.
a. figurative. An emblem or type of what is bitter and grievous to the soul.
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > bitterness of heart > [noun] > that which is bitter > emblem or type of
wormwood1535
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Deut. xxix. 18 Lest there be amonge you some rote, that beareth gall & wormwodd.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Amos v. A Ye turne the lawe to wormwod.
1535 Bible (Coverdale) Amos vi. B Ye haue turned true iudgment into bytternesse, and the frute of rightuousnesse in to wormwod.
1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde i. vi. f. 32v But..amonge his soo many prosperous..affayres, fortune mengeled sume seedes of wormewoodde, and corrupted his pure corne with the malicious weedes of coccle.
1593 G. Harvey New Let. in Wks. (1884) I. 285 Conuerting the wormewood of iust offence into the angelica of pure attonement.
1594 T. Nashe Vnfortunate Traveller sig. H Too much gall dyd that wormwood of Gibeline wittes put in his inke.
1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 833 To weede this wormewood from your fructfull braine. View more context for this quotation
1617 J. Taylor Three Weekes Obseruations C 4 b All his sugred sweet promises, were in the proofe but Gall and wormwood in the performance.
1622 F. Bacon Hist. Raigne Henry VII 209 These two Persons..turned Law and Iustice into Woorme-wood and Rapine.
1629 J. Ford Lovers Melancholy ii. 33 Mel. Ha, ha, ha. Rhe. There's wormewood in that laughter.
1632 W. Lithgow Totall Disc. Trav. iii. 107 Venemous also is the Wormewood of his braine.
1633 G. Herbert Repentance in Temple iv Sweeten at length this bitter bowl, Which thou hast pour'd into my soul; Thy wormwood turn to health.
1641 J. Milton Animadversions 53 It had beene happy for this land, if your priests had beene but onely wooden, all England knowes they have been to this Iland not wood, but wormewood.
1691 J. Hartcliffe Treat. Virtues 239 Thus Judgment is turned into Wormwood: for it is embittered by injustice, and delays make it sour.
1852 H. B. Stowe Uncle Tom's Cabin I. iii. 32 My life is bitter as wormwood.
b. to be wormwood (or gall and wormwood): to be acutely mortifying or vexing (to a person).
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > bitterness of heart > cause bitterness of heart to [verb (transitive)]
ulcerate1647
to be wormwood1809
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas IV. xii. x. 429 The accounts her ladyship brought from Madrid were wormwood to the duke.
1821 W. Scott Kenilworth III. xv. 304 His presence and his communications were gall and wormwood to his once partial mistress.
1856 R. A. Vaughan Hours with Mystics (1860) II. viii. iv. 51 It was wormwood to the proud spirit of Agrippa to be treated as a mere astrologer.
1898 F. T. Bullen Cruise ‘Cachalot’ xxv. 339 The sight of other people's good fortune is gall and wormwood to a vast number of people.
3. Used as a name or specific epithet for certain moths.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous types > unspecified
paper-moth1699
arch1766
moth1802
nun1832
runic1832
vulture-feather1832
wormwood1832
buff-tip1836
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Geometridae > eupithecia absinthiata (wormwood)
wormwood1832
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > family Noctuidae > genus Noctua or Cucullia > cucullia absinthii (wormwood)
wormwood1832
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 91 The Wormwood (Cucullia Absinthii, Ochsenheimer).
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 134 The Wormwood Pug (Eupithecia Absinthiata, Stephens).
1832 J. Rennie Conspectus Butterflies & Moths Brit. 169 The Wormwood Eyelet (Semasia pupillana, Stephens).
1869 E. Newman Illustr. Nat. Hist. Brit. Moths 136, 434.
4. Short for wormwood-ale n. at Compounds 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > [noun] > mixed with wormwood
wormwooda1843
a1843 R. Southey Common-place Bk. (1851) 4th Ser. 425/2 Oxford. All Souls... Their silver cups..are called ox-eyes, and an ox-eye of wormwood was a favourite draught there. Beer with an infusion of wormwood was to be had nowhere else.
Compounds
C1. † wormwood-cake n. Obsolete
wormwood-bush n.
Π
1851 M. Reid Scalp Hunters I. v. 59 I came opposite to a small clump of wormwood bushes.
Π
1655 W. M. Queens Closet Opened 15 Wormwood Cakes good for a cold Stomach, and to help Digestion.
wormwood-diet n.
Π
1655 H. Vaughan Silex Scintillans (ed. 2) ii. 46 Gladly will I, like Pontick sheep, Unto their wormwood-diet keep.
wormwood-draught n.
Π
1750 Lady Luxborough Let. 9 Sept. in Lett. to W. Shenstone (1775) 226 I have a return of my fever to-day; and take wormwood-draughts.
wormwood-drink n.
Π
1658 in 12th Rep. Royal Comm. Hist. MSS (1890) App. v. 6 [Let it] be celebrated with cow~heeles, and tripes, the keenest mustard, and the bitterest wormewood drinke.
wormwood-coloured adj.
Π
1893 S. Henley tr. W. Beckford Vathek (new ed.) 65 He awoke..stung to the quick by wormwood-coloured [1786 wormwood-colour] flies.
wormwood-ale n. = wormwood-beer n.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > ale > [noun] > flavoured ale
Welsh aleeOE
braggetc1405
buttered ale1547
sage ale1584
wormwood-ale1603
bragoes1605
mace-ale1605
China-ale1659
horseradish ale1664
butter ale1666
1603Wormewoode ale [see wormwood-beer n.].
1665 in A. Macdonald & J. Dennistoun Misc. Maitland Club (1840) II. 528 For wormewood aill and other aill in the morneing 000 03 00.
wormwood-beer n. ale or beer in which wormwood is infused.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > beer > [noun] > flavoured beer
buttered beer1532
wormwood-beer1603
molasses ale1700
molasses beer1742
simmon beera1804
framboise1980
1603 F. Herring Certaine Rules B 1 b You may vse a good draught of wormewoode beare or ale.
1718 Poor Robin May A 8 b Scurvy-grass Ale, clarified Whey, And Wormwood Beer are good they say.
1858 C. C. Wilkinson Weeds & Wild Flowers 418 Purl, or wormwood-beer.
wormwood coal n. (see quot.).
Π
1858 C. C. Wilkinson Weeds & Wild Flowers 353 An old belief continues to be connected with the circumstance of the dead roots of wormwood being black, and somewhat hard, and remaining for a long period undecayed beneath the living plant. They are then called ‘wormwood coal’; and if placed under a lover's pillow they are believed to produce a dream of the person he loves.
wormwood water n. = wormwood wine n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > cordial > [noun] > kinds of
water of milk1542
wormwood wine1565
milk water1602
wormwood water1612
mint water1639
persico1709
saffron cordial1728
peppermint water1756
pimento water1760
mint tea1764
peppermintc1770
rum shrub1788
ginger brandy1838
peppermint cordial1847
cloves1853
currant-shrub1856
shrub1861
1612 J. Webster White Divel v. vi. 5 Vit. Ha, are you drunke? Flam. Yes, yes, with wormewood water; you shall tast Some of it presently.
1620 T. Venner Via Recta ii. 45 I aduise them to take two or three parts of wormwood-water, and one of Aqua vitæ.
1725 G. Smith Compl. Body Distilling 46 Wormwood-water is in good demand in the Country.
1832 G. Downes Lett. from Continental Countries I. 168 I was..attacked with a violent pain in my stomach, which yielded only to a strong dram of wormwood water (Eau d' Absinthe).
wormwood wine n. a cordial prepared (like absinthe or vermouth) from wormwood; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > distilled drink > cordial > [noun] > kinds of
water of milk1542
wormwood wine1565
milk water1602
wormwood water1612
mint water1639
persico1709
saffron cordial1728
peppermint water1756
pimento water1760
mint tea1764
peppermintc1770
rum shrub1788
ginger brandy1838
peppermint cordial1847
cloves1853
currant-shrub1856
shrub1861
1565 T. Cooper Thesaurus Absynthites..wormewoodde wyne.
1587 W. Harrison Descr. Eng. (1877) ii. vi. 150 Artificiall stuffe, as ypocras and wormewood wine.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. 81 In upper Germany the first draught commonly is of wormewood wine.
1692 in Earthquake at Lima (1748) App. 328 This Gentleman..engaged me to take a Glass of Wormwood Wine with him, as a Whet before Dinner.
1806 J. Pinkerton Recoll. Paris II. xv. 208 A decanter of Jamaica rum, Wormwood wine, or that of Vermouth.
1844 J. C. Mangan Love & Madness in Poems (1903) 323 Why must Medjnims evermore Drink their tears as wormwood wine?
C2.
a. figurative attributive, passing into adjective = bitter, tart, unpleasant to experience.
ΘΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > mental anguish or torment > bitterness of heart > [adjective] > bitter to the heart or mind
bitter971
attery?c1225
bitingc1374
salt1513
bitterful?1526
wormwood1594
brinisha1617
1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. G2 Thy secret pleasure turnes to open shame,..Thy sugred tongue to bitter wormwood tast. View more context for this quotation
1602 B. Jonson Poetaster i. ii. sig. B An honest decayed Commaunder, cannot skelder, cheat, nor be seene in a baudie house, but he shal be straight in one of their wormewod Comedies. View more context for this quotation
1608 J. Day Law-trickes sig. C2v Trust me, loue hath kild That worme-wood humor.
1871 F. T. Palgrave Lyrical Poems 24 Clouding with wormwood drops the wine of life.
1895 G. P. Lathrop in Month (Brit. Columbia) Jan. 6 Notwithstanding the wormwood memories of wrongs in the past.
1901 T. Hardy Poems Past & Present 57 Still rule those minds on earth At whom sage Milton's wormwood words were hurled.
b. † wormwood lecture n. Obsolete a scolding or ‘talking to’.
ΘΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disapproval > rebuke or reproof > [noun] > scolding > instance of
Kyrie15..
Kyrie eleison1528
chide1538
wormwood lecture1640
rant1663
scold1726
trimming1763
blowing up1772
set-to1774
set-down1780
ragging1788
scouting1794
hurl?a1800
hearing1816
heckling1832
twisting1834
downsetting1842
going-over1843
shrewing1847
call1862
tongue-lashing1881
tongue-walking1888
telling-off1893
rousting1900
lumps1935
fourpenny one1936
rucking1958
1640 Womens Sharpe Revenge 5 And now lately one or two of the sonnes of Ignorance have pen'd three severall..ill-favoured Pamphlets..called Lectures, as the Juniper Lecture, the Crabtree Lecture, and the Wormwood Lecture, wherein they have laid most false aspersions upon all women generally.
1680 J. Dryden Kind Keeper ii. i. 14 I shall read him a Worm-wood Lecture, when I see him.
1682 M. Parker (title) A brief sum of certain wormwood lectures: Which women used to sing and say Unto their husbands every day.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1928; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.a1400