charlock

American  

[chahr-luhk] / ˈtʃɑr lək /

noun

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

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charlock British  

/ 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. Also called: wild radish.   runch.  a related plant, Raphanus raphanistrum, with yellow, mauve, or white flowers and podlike fruits

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Etymology

Origin of charlock

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

Example Sentences

The earth was soft and crumbling, with a scattering of the weeds that are found in cultivated fields—fumitory, charlock, pimpernel and mayweed, all growing in the green gloom under the bean leaves.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Yellow charlock shot up faster and shone bright above the corn; the oaks showered down their green flowers like moss upon the ground; the tree-pipits sang on the branches and descending to the wheat.

From Nature Near London by Jefferies, Richard

Runch, runch, n. the charlock: the wild radish.—n.pl.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

The pale clear yellow of charlock, sharp and clear, promises the finches bushels of seed for their young. 

From Pageant of Summer by Jefferies, Richard

But, indeed, their colours were growing in profusion at their feet when they came out of the trenches—yellow charlock, crimson poppies and blue cornflowers, and many put bunches of these wild flowers in their tunics.

From The Irish on the Somme Being a Second Series of 'The Irish at the Front' by MacDonagh, Michael