hemlock

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English[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Conium maculatum, one of the umbellifers called hemlock
Tsuga heterophylla, one of the conifers called hemlock

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English hemlok, hemeluc, from Old English hymlīc, hymlīce (“hemlock, bryony, convolvulus”, literally “hops-like”), from hymele (“hop-vine”), from Proto-Germanic *humalaz, *humalōn, of unknown origin. Perhaps from Scythian, from *háwmah (“ephedra; juice”), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sáwmas from Proto-Indo-European *sew- (“to press out, extract”).

cognates

More at suck.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈhɛmˌlɒk/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (CAN)(file)

Noun[edit]

hemlock (countable and uncountable, plural hemlocks)

  1. Any of the poisonous umbelliferous plants, of the genera
    1. Conium, either Conium maculatum or Conium chaerophylloides.
    2. Cicuta, water hemlock plant.
  2. The poison obtained from these Conium and Cicuta plants.
  4. Any of several coniferous trees, of the genus Tsuga, that grow in North America; the wood of such trees.
    • 2018, Richard Powers, The Overstory, Vintage (2019), page 380:
      The wind blows and the hemlocks wave their feathery leading shoots. Such a graceful profile, so elegant a tree.

Synonyms[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

poisonous plant of genus Cicuta — see cowbane
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