foxglove
noun
Forms foxgloves fox-glove
- noun Any member of the genus Digitalis of about twenty species of herbaceous biennials native to the Old World, certain of which are prized for their showy flowers. The drug digitalis or digoxin was first isolated from the plant.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fox-glove, foxes glove, from Old English foxes glōfa (“foxglove”). By surface analysis, fox + glove.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Any plant of the genus Digitalis. The common English foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is a handsome perennial or biennial plant, whose leaves are used as a powerful medicine, both as a sedative and diuretic. See Digitalis.
Etymology [AS. foxes-gl, foxes-clife.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “foxglove”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details