Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A Eurasian mint (Mentha pulegium) having small lilac-blue flowers and ovate or nearly orbicular leaves that yield an essential oil formerly used medicinally and as an insect repellent.
- noun An aromatic eastern North American mint (Hedeoma pulegioides) having purple-blue flowers and lanceolate to ovate leaves that yield a similar essential oil.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A much-branched prostrate perennial herb, Mentha Pulegium, of Europe and western Asia.
- noun A plant of the genus Hedeoma; the American pennyroyal. See
Hedeoma , and oil of hedeoma (under oil).
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) An aromatic herb (
Mentha Pulegium ) of Europe; also, a North American plant (Hedeoma pulegioides ) resembling it in flavor. - noun (Bot.) See Blue curls, under
Blue .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
plant of themint family, Mentha pulegium, formerly much used in various medicinal treatments and as a flea repellant.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun erect hairy branching American herb having purple-blue flowers; yields an essential oil used as an insect repellent and sometimes in folk medicine
- noun Eurasian perennial mint have small lilac-blue flowers and ovate leaves; yields an aromatic oil
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The herb we call pennyroyal was the only one I found in abundance, and that only on the brows, where the ground had been partially cleared; vegetation is impossible elsewhere, and it is this circumstance which makes the “eternal forests” of
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Well, Jennie and Brighteyes walked on through the woods and sometimes they found huckleberries to eat, or they found pennyroyal, which is a nice plant to smell, and it keeps the mosquitoes away, when they want to stay away.
Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg Bed Time Stories Howard Roger Garis 1917
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Wild medicinal plants, so important in the rustic materia medica of New England -- such as pennyroyal, for example -- are generally much less aromatic and powerful when cultivated in gardens than when self-sown on meagre soils.
Earth as Modified by Human Action, The~ Chapter 02 (historical) 1874
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Page 282 sulphur, and besmeared his nose and lips with tar, to protect him in inhaling the tainted atmosphere; and whilst he exposed his poultry for sale, kept continually burning about his stall aromatic herbs, such as pennyroyal, sage and tansy, to appease or appal the dread intent of Azrael.
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The patient should drink freely of some sweating tea, such as pennyroyal, balm, mint, sage, &c.
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England -- such as pennyroyal, for example -- are generally much less aromatic and powerful when cultivated in gardens than when self-sown on meagre soils.
The Earth as Modified by Human Action George P. Marsh 1841
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Homes that utilized strong insect-repelling strewing herbs, such as pennyroyal, were not as hard-hit by the black plague, because the herbs kept away fleas and vermin that carried the disease.
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Natural products - such as pennyroyal, neem oil, tea tree oil and garlic - are often found in natural flea treatments.
SFGate: Top News Stories Jennifer Scarlett 2010
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Natural products - such as pennyroyal, neem oil, tea tree oil and garlic - are often found in natural flea treatments.
SFGate: Top News Stories Jennifer Scarlett 2010
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Homes that utilized strong insect-repelling strewing herbs, such as pennyroyal, were not as hard-hit by the black plague, because the herbs kept away fleas and vermin that carried the disease.
chained_bear commented on the word pennyroyal
Usage/historical note in comment on dicalamentis.
November 28, 2017