Definitions

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

  • noun Any of several plants of the genus Leonurus of the mint family, especially L. cardiaca, having clusters of small purple or pink flowers with spiny sepals.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A labiate plant, Leonurus Cardiaca, which grows in waste places. It has sometimes been used in amenorrhea.
  • noun The mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris, formerly used for uterine affections.

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

  • noun A labiate herb (Leonurus Cardiaca), of a bitter taste, used popularly in medicine; lion's tail.
  • noun The mugwort. See mugwort.

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

  • noun bitter Old World herb of hedgerows and woodland margins having toothed leaves and white or pale pink flowers

Etymologies

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

[Middle English moderwort : moder, mother, womb (from its use in treating diseases of the uterus); see mother + wort, wort; see wort.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From mother +‎ wort.

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Examples

  • “‘In the Court of the Inquisition, a motherwort was a person who assisted in apprehending and imprisoning the accused.’”

    Confession Nancy Pickard 1994

  • “‘In the Court of the Inquisition, a motherwort was a person who assisted in apprehending and imprisoning the accused.’”

    Confession Nancy Pickard 1994

  • “‘In the Court of the Inquisition, a motherwort was a person who assisted in apprehending and imprisoning the accused.’”

    Confession Nancy Pickard 1994

  • It suited Miss Trent, however, and she always found motherwort tea soothing.

    The Mistaken Wife Rose Melikan 2010

  • It suited Miss Trent, however, and she always found motherwort tea soothing.

    The Mistaken Wife Rose Melikan 2010

  • Oh, no, thought Miss Trent, and only just managed, by a quick turn of the wrist, to avert a motherwort deluge.

    The Mistaken Wife Rose Melikan 2010

  • Oh, no, thought Miss Trent, and only just managed, by a quick turn of the wrist, to avert a motherwort deluge.

    The Mistaken Wife Rose Melikan 2010

  • Oh, no, thought Miss Trent, and only just managed, by a quick turn of the wrist, to avert a motherwort deluge.

    The Mistaken Wife Rose Melikan 2010

  • It suited Miss Trent, however, and she always found motherwort tea soothing.

    The Mistaken Wife Rose Melikan 2010

  • The Greeks used motherwort to relieve the pain from childbirth and as a tranquilizer.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

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