Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several plants of the widespread genus Stachys in the mint family, especially S. officinalis, native to Eurasia and northern Africa and having spikes of usually reddish-purple flowers. It was formerly used as an herbal medicine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The popular name of Stachys Betonica or Betonica officinalis, a European labiate plant, growing in woods.

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

  • noun (Bot.) A plant of the genus Betonica (Linn.).

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

  • noun A plant of the genus Betonica.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old French betoine, from Medieval Latin betōnia, both from Latin vettōnica, probably from Vettōnēs, an ancient Iberian tribe.]

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Examples

  • Not, go here martini it metabolite it andrei a angeles but roustabout in betony in resignation in anxiety, dreamboat and progress may conspire on offsetting a khan the reptile see petrify in forsake it grizzly not monkeyflower! choral it algonquin some selves it elmsford see lew not anastasia be coequal some bankrupt in ethnic a purgative not bridal on chimera and ammonia be cliffhang! began or kickback be amalgam or tycoon!

    Archive 2006-01-01 Ben Barren 2006

  • Not, go here martini it metabolite it andrei a angeles but roustabout in betony in resignation in anxiety, dreamboat and progress may conspire on offsetting a khan the reptile see petrify in forsake it grizzly not monkeyflower! choral it algonquin some selves it elmsford see lew not anastasia be coequal some bankrupt in ethnic a purgative not bridal on chimera and ammonia be cliffhang! began or kickback be amalgam or tycoon!

    Mark Dery's Literary Spam Ben Barren 2006

  • I followed the path beside ancient overgrown hedges, heavy with elder blossom and sheltering patches of lady's bedstraw and betony, down to the banks of the river Wear where tree planting began this spring in lower-lying fields.

    Country diary: Low Burnhall, Durham 2011

  • “Bet it is just wintergreen, feverfew, and betony, mixed with something sweet—and now he will make a fortune,” Teddy said, reading the account in the Gazette.

    Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011

  • Wet-kneed, we walked by pastures filled with the white froth of meadowsweet and river-bank flora of lady's bedstraw, betony, devil's bit scabious, greater burnet and eyebright, kneeling several times to store memories of the scent of the last of the fragrant orchids.

    Country diary: Forest-in-Teesdale 2011

  • “Bet it is just wintergreen, feverfew, and betony, mixed with something sweet—and now he will make a fortune,” Teddy said, reading the account in the Gazette.

    Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011

  • 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

  • "You were saying yesterday to Colum that ye needed betony and some odd bits of herbs?"

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • Mrs. Fitz pointed out foxglove, purslane, and betony, along with a few I did not recognize.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

  • Cushions of thrift and bladder campion on old walls have faded, but purple spikes of betony and the white of yarrow and sea carrot enliven vegetation along the coastal path.

    Country diary: Cornwall 2010

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