n. 1. a. Any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia. b. See absinthe. 2. Something harsh or embittering: "Mr. Dempster could never think of his lost client without strong irritation, and the very sight of Mr. Jerome passing in the street was wormwood to him" (George Eliot). [Middle English wormwode, alteration (influenced by worm, worm, and wode, wood, perhaps from the use of its leaves as a vermifuge) of wermod, from Old English wermōd, from Germanic *wermōdaz.] |
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