motherwort
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English moderwort; equivalent to mother + wort.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
motherwort (plural motherworts)
- Any of several perennial plants of the genus Leonurus, especially Leonurus cardiaca, used in traditional medicine to help with childbirth or treat uterine disorders. [from 13th c.]
- 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 195:
- Besides, it makes women joyful and mothers of children and settles their wombs as they should be; therefore we call it Motherwort.
- 1827, Lydia Sigourney, Poems, The Comet of 1825, page 151:
- —Miss Luna, muffling up her head,
Went with the ague, straight to bed,
Put out her lamp, and bade them tell
She could not hear her mistress' bell,
Begg'd them with motherwort to dose her,
And drew her cloudy night-cap closer.—
- Artemisia vulgaris.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
plant of the genus Leonurus
|
Leonurus cardiaca
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Artemisia vulgaris — see mugwort
References edit
- “motherwort”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “motherwort”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- motherwort on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Leonurus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
- Leonurus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons