Swallow-wort

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; Plants of genus Vincetoxicum, especially Vincetoxicum nigrum (syn. Cynanchum nigrum, black swallow-wort) or (Vincetoxicum hirundinaria (syn. Cynanchum vincetoxicum, white swallowwort). countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; Plants of genus Cynanchum countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; Chelidonium majus (greater celandine). countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; Pattalias palustris (syn. Seutera angustifolia, Gulf Coast swallow wort). countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; In genus Asclepias (milkweed):; orange swallow-wort (Asclepias tuberosa) countable, uncountable
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; In genus Asclepias (milkweed):; silky swallow-wort (Asclepias syriaca countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; Calotropis spp. (giant milkweed). countable, uncountable

    "Among the Kunbis of the Central Provinces of India a bachelor who marries a widow must first be married to an ākra or swallow-wort (Calotropis gigantea), a very common plant with mauve or purple flowers, which grows on waste land."

  3. 8
    A plant of any of several species of plants whose parts resemble a swallow's tail:; Euphorbia maculata (spotted spurge). countable, uncountable

Example

More examples

"Among the Kunbis of the Central Provinces of India a bachelor who marries a widow must first be married to an ākra or swallow-wort (Calotropis gigantea), a very common plant with mauve or purple flowers, which grows on waste land."

Etymology

From swallow + wort. See celandine.

Related phrases

African swallow-wortGulf Coast swallow-wortbearded swallow-wortblack swallow-wortleafless swallow-wortorange swallow-wortpale swallow-wortsilky swallow-wortwhite swallow-wort

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.