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Medicinal Herb
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herb
[urb or, especially Brit., hurb] 
–noun
—Idiom| 1. | a flowering plant whose stem above ground does not become woody. |
| 2. | such a plant when valued for its medicinal properties, flavor, scent, or the like. |
| 3. | Often, the herb. Slang. marijuana. |
| 4. | Archaic. herbage. |
| 5. | give it the herbs, Australian Slang. to use full power, esp. in accelerating a car. |
Origin:
1250–1300; ME herbe < OF erbe, herbe < L herba
1250–1300; ME herbe < OF erbe, herbe < L herba
Related forms:
herbless, adjective
herblike, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To herb
| herb (ûrb, hûrb) n.
[Middle English herbe, from Old French erbe, from Latin herba.] herb'y adj. Usage Note: The word herb, which can be pronounced with or without the (h), is one of a number of words borrowed into English from French. The (h) sound had been lost in Latin and was not pronounced in French or the other Romance languages, which are descended from Latin, although it was retained in the spelling of some words. In both Old and Middle English, however, h was generally pronounced, as in the native English words happy and hot. Through the influence of spelling, then, the h came to be pronounced in most words borrowed from French, such as haste and hostel. In a few other words borrowed from French the h has remained silent, as in honor, honest, hour, and heir. And in another small group of French loan words, including herb, humble, human, and humor, the h may or may not be pronounced depending on the dialect of English. In British English, herb and its derivatives, such as herbaceous, herbal, herbicide, and herbivore, are pronounced with h. In American English, herb and herbal are more often pronounced without the h, while the opposite is true of herbaceous, herbicide, and herbivore, which are more often pronounced with the h. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Herb
Herb\ (?; 277), n. [OE. herbe, erbe, OF. herbe, erbe, F. herbe, L. herba; perh. akin to Gr. forbh` food, pasture, fe`rbein to feed.]1. A plant whose stem does not become woody and permanent, but dies, at least down to the ground, after flowering. Note: Annual herbs live but one season; biennial herbs flower the second season, and then die; perennial herbs produce new stems year after year. 2. Grass; herbage. And flocks Grazing the tender herb. --Milton. Herb bennet. (Bot.) See Bennet. Herb Christopher (Bot.), an herb (Act[ae]a spicata), whose root is used in nervous diseases; the baneberry. The name is occasionally given to other plants, as the royal fern, the wood betony, etc. Herb Gerard (Bot.), the goutweed; -- so called in honor of St. Gerard, who used to be invoked against the gout. --Dr. Prior. Herb grace, or Herb of grace. (Bot.) See Rue. Herb Margaret (Bot.), the daisy. See Marguerite. Herb Paris (Bot.), an Old World plant related to the trillium (Paris quadrifolia), commonly reputed poisonous. Herb Robert (Bot.), a species of Geranium (G. Robertianum.)
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : herb
Spanish:
hierba,
German:
das Kraut,
Japanese:
薬用植物
herb
c.1290, erbe, from O.Fr. erbe, from L. herba "grass, herb." Refashioned after L. since 15c., but the h- was mute until 19c. Herbaceous is from 1646.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: herb
Pronunciation: '(h)&rb
Function: noun
often attributive 1 : a seed plant that does not develop persistent woody tissuebut dies down at the end of a growing season
2 : a plant or plant part valued for its medicinal, savory, or aromatic qualities
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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| herb (ûrb) Pronunciation Key
A flowering plant whose stem does not produce woody tissue and generally dies back at the end of each growing season. Both grasses and forbs are herbs. herbaceous adjective (hûr-bā'shəs, ûr-) |
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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Herb
(1.) Heb. 'eseb, any green plant; herbage (Gen. 1:11, 12, 29, 30; 2:5; 3:18, etc.); comprehending vegetables and all green herbage (Amos 7:1, 2). (2.) _Yarak_, green; any green thing; foliage of trees (2 Kings 19:26; Ps. 37:2); a plant; herb (Deut. 11:10). (3.) _Or_, meaning "light" In Isa. 26:19 it means "green herbs;" in 2 Kings 4:39 probably the fruit of some plant. (4.) _Merorim_, plural, "bitter herbs," eaten by the Israelites at the Passover (Ex. 12:8; Num. 9:11). They were bitter plants of various sorts, and referred symbolically to the oppression in Egypt.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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