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Wormwood

//ˈwɚm.wʊd// name, noun

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A star or angel that appears in the Book of Revelation, turning waters bitter and poisonous. countable, uncountable
"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."
2
A surname. countable, uncountable
"Having got the address from the school records, Miss Honey set out to walk from her own home to the Wormwoods’ house shortly after nine."

Noun

1
An intensely bitter herb (Artemisia absinthium and similar plants in genus Artemisia) used in medicine, in the production of absinthe and vermouth, and as a tonic. countable, uncountable
"But as I said, / When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple / Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool, / To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!"
2
any of several low composite herbs of the genera Artemisia or Seriphidium wordnet
3
Something that causes bitterness or affliction; a cause of mortification or vexation. countable, figuratively, uncountable
"The irony of this reply was wormwood to Zeluco; he fell into a gloomy fit of musing, and made no farther inquiry […]."

Etymology

From Middle English wormwode, a folk etymology (as if worm + wood) of wermode (“wormwood”), from Old English wermōd (“wormwood, absinthe”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjamōdā (“wormwood”). Cognate with Middle Low German wermode, wermede (“wormwood”), German Wermut (“wormwood”). Doublet of vermouth.

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