lungwort

[ luhng-wurt, -wawrt ]

/ ˈlʌŋˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

a European plant, Pulmonaria officinalis, of the borage family, having blue flowers.

any of various related plants of the genus Mertensia, as the North American M. virginica, having nodding clusters of blue flowers.

Nearby words

lungfish, lungi, lungki, lungs, lungworm, lungwort, lungyi, luni-, lunik, lunisolar, lunisolar precession

Origin of lungwort

before 1000; Middle English long-wort, lung-wort hellebore, Old English lungen-wyrt; see lung, wort²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for lungwort

The changing blue and pink flowers of the Lungwort, somewhat characteristic of its family, are curious also.
Old-Time Gardens|Alice Morse Earle
Lungwort, however, was so called because the lichen Pulmonaria has a resemblance to lungs.
The Romance of Plant Life|G. F. Scott Elliot
Nor was it the colour of her eyes, the deep pure blue of the lungwort, that blue loveliness seen in no other flower on earth.
Dead Man's Plack and an Old Thorn|William Henry Hudson
Lungwort helps infirmities of the lungs, coughs and shortness of breath.
Every Day Life in the Massachusetts Bay Colony|George Francis Dow

British Dictionary definitions for lungwort

lungwort

/ (ˈlʌŋˌwɜːt) /

noun

any of several Eurasian plants of the boraginaceous genus Pulmonaria, esp P. officinalis, which has spotted leaves and clusters of blue or purple flowers: formerly used to treat lung diseases

any of various boraginaceous plants of the N temperate genus Mertensia, such as Mertensia maritima (sea lungwort), having drooping clusters of tubular usually blue flowers

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