brooklime

[ brook-lahym ]

noun

any of various speedwells found along brooks, in marshes, etc., as Veronica americana(American brooklime ), a creeping plant having leafy stems and loose clusters of small blue flowers.

Origin of brooklime

1400–50; late Middle English brokelemke, equivalent to brokebrook¹ + lemke,Old English hleomoce speedwell, cognate with Middle Low German lömeke

Words Nearby brooklime

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use brooklime in a sentence

brooklime, Anagallis aquatica; moderately hot and moiſt, prevalent in the Scorbute, and Stone.
Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets | John Evelyn
The leaves of the brooklime Speedwell are smooth and glossy.
Flowers Shown to the Children | C. E. Smith
But the ditches below are yet green with brooklime and rushes.
Nature Near London | Richard Jefferies
Bullrushes and brooklime are also good, but the bullrushes must be planted judiciously.
Amateur Fish Culture | Charles Edward Walker

British Dictionary definitions for brooklime

brooklime

/ (ˈbrʊkˌlaɪm) /

noun

either of two blue-flowered scrophulariaceous trailing plants, Veronica americana of North America or V. beccabunga of Europe and Asia, growing in moist places: See also speedwell

Origin of brooklime

C16: variant of C15 brokelemk speedwell, from brook 1 + -lemk, from Old English hleomoce; influenced by lime

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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