gromwell

American  

[grom-wuhl] / ˈgrɒm wəl /

noun

1. any of various often hairy plants of the genus Lithospermum, of the borage family, usually bearing white or yellowish flowers and smooth, white, stony nutlets.

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gromwell British  

/ ˈɡrɒmwəl /

noun

1. any of various hairy plants of the boraginaceous genus Lithospermum, esp L. officinale, having small greenish-white, yellow, or blue flowers, and smooth nutlike fruits See also puccoon

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Etymology

Origin of gromwell

1275–1325; Middle English gromil < Old French, equivalent to gro- (< ?) + mil millet < Latin milium

Example Sentences

Finally, they withdrew the gromwell and she resumed normal ovulation.

From Time Magazine Archive

Next, the researchers gave the gromwell extract to humans to check for harmful effects.

From Time Magazine Archive

Then they made tests to see whether a woman taking gromwell continued to ovulate.

From Time Magazine Archive

When the gromwell was stopped, they promptly resumed ovulating and proved, by becoming pregnant, that their fertility had been only temporarily arrested.

From Time Magazine Archive

The stony seeds of the gromwell were, also, used in cases of stone—a plant formerly known as lichwale, or, as in a MS. of the fifteenth century, lythewale, stone-switch.

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