spearwort

[ speer-wurt, -wawrt ]

noun

1. any of several buttercups having lance-shaped leaves and small flowers, as Ranunculus ambigens, of the eastern U.S., growing in mud.

spearwort

/ ˈspɪəˌwɜːt /

noun

1. any of several Eurasian ranunculaceous plants of the genus Ranunculus, such as R. flammula ( lesser spearwort ) and R. lingua ( great spearwort ), which grow in wet places and have long narrow leaves and yellow flowers See also buttercup

Word History and Origins

Origin of spearwort¹

before 1000; Middle English sperewort, Old English sperewyrt. See spear ¹, wort ²

Example Sentences

The adder's-tongue spearwort is only found in two places in the UK - Badgeworth, near Gloucester, and on Inglestone Common, near Bristol.

From BBC

No beggar eats crumbs, but only the fat of the land; and dogs lick not a beggar's sores, being made with spearwort, or ratsbane, or biting acids, from all which dogs, and even pigs, abhor.

From Project Gutenberg

And Miss Anney, turning the bouquet about and examining it, said: "An apple-blossom is in the middle,--the good-for-nothing girl plucked it from some little tree, for which she must be reprimanded; these are spearwort, those primroses, and those pennyroyal, which are now coming out."

From Project Gutenberg

Yea, more dreadful still, Buried within the heart of many a plant Lie deadly drops of poisonous essences, Nightshade and spearwort, aconite and poppy, That slay more swift and sure than tempered steel.

From Project Gutenberg

The following purely Caucasian species also grow on the coast—five species of spearwort, three of saxifrage, Aster caucasica, Dioscorea caucasica, Echinops raddeanus, Hedera colchica, Helleborus caucasica and Peucedanum caucasicum.

From Project Gutenberg