Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Ground-ivy, Nepeta Glechoma, the leaves of which were used in ale-making before the introduction of hops.

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

  • noun Ground ivy (Nepeta Glechoma).

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

  • noun ground-ivy

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

  • noun trailing European aromatic plant of the mint family having rounded leaves and small purplish flowers often grown in hanging baskets; naturalized in North America; sometimes placed in genus Nepeta

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Queer were the names of some of the herbs; alehoof, which was ground-ivy, or gill-go-by-ground, or haymaids, or twinhoof, or gill-creep-by-ground, and was an herb of Venus, and thus in special use for "passions of the heart," for "amorous cups," which few Puritans dared to meddle with.

    Customs and Fashions in Old New England Alice Morse Earle 1881

  • Cotton Mather said the most useful and favorite medicinal plants were alehoof, garlick, elder, sage, rue, and saffron.

    Customs and Fashions in Old New England Alice Morse Earle 1881

Comments

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  • so called by the Saxons because a chief ingredient in their malt-liquor instead of hops.

    --Daniel Fenning's Royal English Dictionary, 1775

    January 17, 2018