a green, aromatic liqueur that is 68 percent alcohol, is made with wormwood and other herbs, and has a bitter, licorice flavor: now banned in most Western countries.
A perennial aromatic European herb (Artemisia absinthium), naturalized in eastern North America and having pinnatifid, silvery silky leaves and numerous nodding flower heads. Also called common wormwood.
A green liqueur having a bitter anise or licorice flavor and a high alcohol content, prepared from absinthe and other herbs, and now prohibited in many countries because of its toxicity.
[Middle English, wormwood, from Old French, from Latin absinthium, from Greek apsinthion.]
alcoholic liqueur distilled from wine mixed with wormwood, 1842, from Fr., "essence of wormwood," from Mod.L. (Linnaeus) name for the plant (Artemisia Absinthium), from L. absinthum, from Gk. apsinthion, perhaps from Persian (cf. Pers. aspand, of the same meaning). The plant so called in Eng. from 1612.
Main Entry: ab·sinthe Variant: alsoab·sinth/'ab-(")sin(t)th/ Function: noun 1:WORMWOOD 2: a green liqueur flavored with wormwood or a substitute, anise, and other aromatics