male fern

American  

noun

1. a bright-green fern, Dryopteris filix-mas, of Europe and northeastern North America.

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male fern British  

noun

1. a fern, Dryopteris filix-mas, having scaly stalks and pinnate fronds with kidney-shaped spore-producing bodies on the underside: family Polypodiaceae

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Etymology

Origin of male fern

First recorded in 1555–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

male fern

Infusion of cusco is sometimes used as an anthelmintic, so is wormwood, and the liquid extract of male fern, and in America spigelia root and pumpkin seeds.

From Dogs and All about Them by Leighton, Robert

Now, only a week before Christmas, the male fern is still in handsome green masses; Blechnum is still good, and common Polypody at its best.

From Wood and Garden Notes and thoughts, practical and critical, of a working amateur by Jekyll, Gertrude

The liquid extract of male fern is the only drug used with much success.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 7 "Bible" to "Bisectrix" by Various

Occasionally, by the side of a copse, we may come upon a great bed of the male fern, which frequently keeps green all the winter.

From Chatterbox, 1905. by Various

As a rule the male fern acts promptly and well.

From Mother's Remedies Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers of the United States and Canada by Ritter, Thomas Jefferson