meadwort

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English medewort, from Old English medewyrt, medowyrt, corresponding to mead +‎ wort. Cognate with Norwegian mjødurt, Danish mjødurt.

Noun

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meadwort (uncountable)

  1. (obsolete) Meadowsweet, a plant found near rivers or on damp ground.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. [], London: [] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      The metall first he mixt with Medæwart, / That no enchauntment from his dint might saue; / That it in flames of Aetna wrought apart, / And seuen times dipped in the bitter waue / Of hellish Styx, which hidden vertue to it gaue.

Anagrams

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