bugbane

American

[buhg-beyn] / ˈbʌgˌbeɪn /

noun

any of several tall, erect plants belonging to the genus Cimicifuga, of the buttercup family, as C. americana, of the eastern U.S., having loose, elongated clusters of white flowers.

bugbane British

/ ˈbʌɡˌbeɪn /

noun

any of several ranunculaceous plants of the genus Cimicifuga , esp C. foetida of Europe, whose flowers are reputed to repel insects

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of bugbane

1795–1805; bug ¹ + bane; so called because it supposedly repels insects

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Especially interested were the bugbane men in an estimate that the yearly damage done in the U. S. by clothes moths amounts to some $200,000,000.

From Time Magazine Archive

C. foetida, bugbane, is used as a preventive against vermin; and the root of a North American species, C. racemosa, known as black snake-root, as an emetic.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 3 "Chitral" to "Cincinnati" by Various

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023