Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A name applied to various plants, as the bloody dock, Rumex sanguineus, a species of dock with the stem and veins of the leaves of a blood-red color;
  • noun the dwarf elder, Sambucus Ebulus;
  • noun in the United States, the Hieracium venosum, the leaves of which are veined with red.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A plant, Rumex sanguineus, or bloody-veined dock. The name is applied also to bloodroot (Sanguinaria Canadensis), and to an extensive order of plants (Hæmodoraceæ), the roots of many species of which contain a red coloring matter useful in dyeing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The plant bloodroot, Sanguinaria canadensis.
  • noun Rumex sanguineus, the bloody-veined dock.
  • noun Any of the Haemodoraceae, a family of flowering plants some of whose roots contain a red dye.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of various plants of the family Haemodoraceae; roots contain a deep red coloring matter

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

blood +‎ wort

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Examples

  • In one are seven towels, in another seven sponges: when the choir sings the Benedictus of Lauds, small brushes of box or yew but generally of bloodwort, arranged in the form of a diadem, are distributed to the canons.

    The Tradition of the Washing of the Altar 2009

  • I thought it very unlikely, for instance, that bloodwort would be effective in making warts grow on a rival's nose, and I strongly doubted whether wood betony was useful in transforming toads into pigeons.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • One of the meadows I crossed was almost sheeted with the exquisite little blue-white china-looking blossoms of the Euphrasia, eyebright; tufts of violets were in bloom along the roadside, and the woods are full of bloodwort, wild anemones, speedwell, and a diminutive bright yellow star, which belongs to a species of wild strawberry here.

    Further Records, 1848-1883: A Series of Letters 1891

  • The feet were constantly caught and entangled in the long grass, that was parched in the scorching sun; the eyes were dazzled on all sides by the glaring metallic glitter on the young reddish leaves of the trees; on all sides were the variegated blue clusters of vetch, the golden cups of bloodwort, and the half-lilac, half-yellow blossoms of the heart's-ease.

    A Sportsman's Sketches Works of Ivan Turgenev, Volume I Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev 1850

  • The feet were constantly caught and entangled in the long grass, that was parched in the scorching sun; the eyes were dazzled on all sides by the glaring metallic glitter on the young reddish leaves of the trees; on all sides were the variegated blue clusters of vetch, the golden cups of bloodwort, and the half-lilac, half-yellow blossoms of the heart’s-ease.

    A Sportsman's Sketches 2003

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  • Usage/historical note in comment on langdebeef.

    January 18, 2017