- Herb
- Herb Herb ([~e]rb or h[~e]rb; 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.
[1913 Webster]
Note: Annual herbs live but one season; biennial herbs flower the second season, and then die; perennial herbs produce new stems year after year. [1913 Webster]
2. Grass; herbage. [1913 Webster]
And flocks Grazing the tender herb. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
{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} ({Geranium Robertianum}.) [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.