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moonwort

[moon-wurt, -wawrt]
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noun
  1. any fern of the genus Botrychium, especially B. lunaria, a rare fern having fronds with crescent-shaped leaflets.
  2. honesty(def 4).
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Origin of moonwort

First recorded in 1570–80; moon + wort2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for moonwort

Historical Examples

  • I have the wild rosehip, and the flat shield of the moonwort, and a pea-pod, and more whose names I know not.

    The Dove in the Eagle's Nest

    Charlotte M. Yonge

  • Moonwort has (or perhaps had) a miraculous effect on iron, with power to open locks or unshoe horses.

British Dictionary definitions for moonwort

moonwort

noun
  1. Also called (US): grape fern any of various ferns of the genus Botrychium, esp B. lunaria, which has crescent-shaped leaflets
  2. another name for honesty (def. 4)
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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