bear's-foot

British  

noun

1. either of two Eurasian hellebore plants, Helleborus foetidus or H. viridis , having leaves shaped like the foot and claws of a bear

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bear's-foot

The possessive case and its governing noun, combining to form a metaphorical name, should be written with both apostrophe and hyphen; as, Job's-tears, Jew's-ear, bear's-foot, colts-tooth, sheep's-head, crane's-bill, crab's-eyes, hound's-tongue, king's-spear, lady's-slipper, lady's-bedstraw, &c.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold

In this way, these irregularities extend to many words; though some of the metaphorical class, as kite's-foot, colts-foot, bear's-foot, lion's-foot, being names of plants, have no plural.

From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold

Thus there is the bear's-foot, from its digital leaf, the bear-berry, or bear's-bilberry, from its fruit being a favourite food of bears, and the bear's-garlick.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)