'Wormwood' definitions:

Definition of 'wormwood'

(from WordNet)
noun
Any of several low composite herbs of the genera Artemisia or Seriphidium

Definition of 'Wormwood'

From: GCIDE
  • Wormwood \Worm"wood\, n. [AS. werm?d, akin to OHG. wermuota, wormuota, G. wermuth, wermut; of uncertain origin.] [1913 Webster]
  • 1. (Bot.) A composite plant (Artemisia Absinthium), having a bitter and slightly aromatic taste, formerly used as a tonic and a vermifuge, and to protect woolen garments from moths. It gives the peculiar flavor to the cordial called absinthe. The volatile oil is a narcotic poison. The term is often extended to other species of the same genus. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. Anything very bitter or grievous; bitterness. [1913 Webster]
  • Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood. --Deut. xxix. 18. [1913 Webster]
  • Roman wormwood (Bot.), an American weed ({Ambrosia artemisiaefolia}); hogweed.
  • Tree wormwood (Bot.), a species of Artemisia (probably Artemisia variabilis) with woody stems.
  • Wormwood hare (Zool.), a variety of the common hare ({Lepus timidus}); -- so named from its color. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'wormwood'

From: Easton
  • Wormwood Heb. la'anah, the Artemisia absinthium of botanists. It is noted for its intense bitterness (Deut. 29:18; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; Amos 5:7). It is a type of bitterness, affliction, remorse, punitive suffering. In Amos 6:12 this Hebrew word is rendered "hemlock" (R.V., "wormwood"). In the symbolical language of the Apocalypse (Rev. 8:10, 11) a star is represented as falling on the waters of the earth, causing the third part of the water to turn wormwood.
  • The name by which the Greeks designated it, absinthion, means "undrinkable." The absinthe of France is distilled from a species of this plant. The "southernwood" or "old man," cultivated in cottage gardens on account of its fragrance, is another species of it.