goldthread

[ gohld-thred ]

noun
  1. a white-flowered plant, Coptis trifolia, of the buttercup family, having a slender, yellow root that is sometimes used as a tonic.

Origin of goldthread

1
An Americanism dating back to 1770–80; gold + thread

Words Nearby goldthread

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use goldthread in a sentence

  • What could be more unassuming than goldthread and wood-sorrel?

    In the Open | Stanton Davis Kirkham
  • goldthread was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880.

    Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants | A. R. (Arthur Robert) Harding
  • It is also applied to the stalk or petiole of a carpel, in the rare cases when there is any, as in goldthread.

  • Story-'n'-a-half house, a good sullar, an' woods nigh-by full o' sarsaparilla an' goldthread!

    Meadow Grass | Alice Brown
  • I'm goin' into the pines arter some goldthread an' sarsaparil'.

    Country Neighbors | Alice Brown

British Dictionary definitions for goldthread

goldthread

/ (ˈɡəʊldˌθrɛd) /


noun
  1. a North American woodland ranunculaceous plant, Coptis trifolia (or C. groenlandica), with slender yellow roots

  2. the root of this plant, which yields a medicinal tonic and a dye

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