charlock

[ chahr-luhk ]

noun
  1. a wild mustard, Brassica kaber, having lobed, ovate leaves and clusters of small, yellow flowers, often troublesome as a weed in grainfields.

Origin of charlock

1
before 1000; Middle English cherlok,Old English cerlic< ?

Words Nearby charlock

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use charlock in a sentence

  • When the young corn is growing up the bright yellow charlock grows much more rapidly, and the whole cornfield is golden with it.

    The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot
  • And he went off into technicalities concerning the abundance of charlock on the arable land of Pym.

    The Wonder | J. D. Beresford
  • Wallace was an Eton friend, a nice boy, who had sometimes stayed at charlock House.

    Amabel Channice | Anne Douglas Sedgwick
  • charlock, too, hid the rotting roots in the fields under a blaze of yellow flower.

    After London | Richard Jefferies
  • In 1855, on the soil being dug in several places, charlock (Brassica sinapistrum) sprang up freely.

British Dictionary definitions for charlock

charlock

/ (ˈtʃɑːlɒk) /


noun
  1. Also called: wild mustard a weedy Eurasian plant, Sinapis arvensis (or Brassica kaber), with hairy stems and foliage and yellow flowers: family: Brassicaceae (crucifers)

  2. white charlock Also called: wild radish, runch (rʌntʃ) a related plant, Raphanus raphanistrum, with yellow, mauve, or white flowers and podlike fruits

Origin of charlock

1
Old English cerlic, of obscure origin

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