The Collaborative Dictionary

Wort \Wort\, n. [OE. wort, wurt, AS. wyrt herb, root; akin to OS. wurt, G. wurz, Icel. jurt, urt, Dan. urt, Sw. ["o]rt, Goth. wa['u]rts a root, L. radix, Gr. ? a root, ? a branch, young shoot, ? a branch, and E. root, n. Cf. Licorice, Orchard, Radish, Root, n., Whortleberry, Wort an infusion of malt.] [1913 Webster]

(Bot.) A plant of any kind. [1913 Webster] Note: This word is now chiefly used in combination, as in colewort, figwort, St. John's-wort, woundwort, etc. [1913 Webster]

pl. Cabbages. [1913 Webster]

Wort \Wort\, n. [OE. worte, wurte, AS. wyrte; akin to OD. wort, G. w["u]rze, bierw["u]rze, Icel. virtr, Sw. v["o]rt. See Wort an herb.] An infusion of malt which is unfermented, or is in the act of fermentation; the sweet infusion of malt, which ferments and forms beer; hence, any similar liquid in a state of incipient fermentation. [1913 Webster] Note: Wort consists essentially of a dilute solution of sugar, which by fermentation produces alcohol and carbon dioxide. [1913 Webster]

Word Net

wort

1 usually used in combination: `liverwort'; `milkwort'; `whorlywort'

2 unfermented or fermenting malt

Moby Thesaurus

algae, autophyte, bean, bracken, brown algae, climber, conferva, confervoid, creeper, diatom, fern, fruits and vegetables, fucus, fungus, grapevine, green algae, gulfweed, herb, heterophyte, ivy, kelp, legume, lentil, liana, lichen, liverwort, mold, moss, mushroom, parasite, parasitic plant, pea, perthophyte, phytoplankton, planktonic algae, plant families, puffball, pulse, red algae, rockweed, rust, saprophyte, sargasso, sargassum, sea lentil, sea moss, sea wrack, seaweed, smut, succulent, toadstool, vetch, vine, wrack

see Wort

English

Etymology

Old English wyrt.

Pronunciation

• /wə:t/

Noun

1. liquid extract from the ground malt and grain soaked in hot water, the mash, as one of the steps in making beer
2. any of various plants or herbs

   The word is usually used in combination to refer to specific plants, e.g. St. John’s wort; however, it may be used on its own as a generic term.

Translations