hemlock, hemlock tree
(noun) an evergreen tree
hemlock
(noun) soft coarse splintery wood of a hemlock tree especially the western hemlock
hemlock, poison hemlock, poison parsley, California fern, Nebraska fern, winter fern, Conium maculatum
(noun) large branching biennial herb native to Eurasia and Africa and adventive in North America having large fernlike leaves and white flowers; usually found in damp habitats; all parts extremely poisonous
hemlock
(noun) poisonous drug derived from an Eurasian plant of the genus Conium; “Socrates refused to flee and died by drinking hemlock”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
hemlock (countable and uncountable, plural hemlocks)
Any of the poisonous umbelliferous plants, of the genera
Conium, either Conium maculatum or Conium chaerophylloides.
Cicuta, water hemlock plant.
The poison obtained from these Conium and Cicuta plants.
Any of several coniferous trees, of the genus Tsuga, that grow in North America; the wood of such trees.
• (Conium): beaver poison, devil's porridge, herb bennet, musquash root, poison hemlock, poison parsley, spotted corobane, spotted hemlock Conium maculatum; Conium chaerophylloides; Conium conium maculatum
Source: Wiktionary
Hem"lock, n. Etym: [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic, hymlic.]
1. (Bot.)
Definition: The name of several poisonous umbelliferous herbs having finely cut leaves and small white flowers, as the Cicuta maculata, bulbifera, and virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium.
Note: The potion of hemlock administered to Socrates is by some thought to have been a decoction of Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, by others, of Conium maculatum.
2. (Bot.)
Definition: An evergreen tree common in North America (Abies, or Tsuga, Canadensis); hemlock spruce. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. Longfellow.
3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree. Ground hemlock, or Dwarf hemlock. See under Ground.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
24 February 2025
(noun) (astronomy) position of a planet as defined by its angular distance from its perihelion (as observed from the sun)
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
