Meaning

(archaic or historical) Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine..

Definitions by Sense

1. (archaic or historical) Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.
2. (specifically, historical) Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
3. (by extension, botany) A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.
4. (brewing, distilling) Also worts: a liquid extracted from mash (ground malt or some other grain soaked in hot water), which is then fermented to make beer, or fermented and distilled to make a malt liquor such as whisky.

Example Sentences

[T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed with barly brede and cakes of whete, and that the residue of their diete shulde be salte, olyues, chese, and likes, and more ouer wortes that the feldes do brynge furthe, for their potage.

[H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]

It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]

Two saints are credited with giving St. John's wort its name. One was St. John of Jerusalem, who used the wort (plant) during the crusades to heal his knights' battlefield wounds, and the other was John the Baptist.

VVhy (ſay they in ſcorne and contempt of povertie) here is the ſtem of a vvoort ſo vvell grovvne, here is a cabbage ſo thriven and fed, that a poore mans boord vvill not hold it.

I am poore / And may expect a vvorſe; yet digging, pruning, / Mending of broken vvayes, carrying of vvater, / Planting of VVorts, and Onyons, any thing / That's honeſt, and a mans, Ile rather chooſe, […]

Though ne'er ſo mean the Viands be, / They vvell content my Prevv and me. / Or Pea, or Bean, or VVort, or Beet, / VVhat ever comes, content makes ſvveet: […]

Nay then tvvo treyes, an if you grovv ſo nice, / Methegline, VVort, and Malmſey; […]

Word Forms

• worts

Synonyms for wort

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When Should You Use Wort?

Use wort when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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