moth mullein

Save This Word!

a weedy, European mullein, Verbascum blattaria, of the figwort family, having lance-shaped leaves and loose spikes of white or yellow flowers.

QUIZZES

In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Question 1 of 7

The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

First recorded in 1570–80; from its mothlike appearance

Blanche was a fragile white moth beating against the unbreakable sides of a 1000 watt bulb.
Elia Kazan to Tennessee Williams: You Gotta Suffer to Sing the Blues|Elia Kazan|May 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Thomas Harris tipped his hat to Fowles in The Silence of the Lambs when he created the moth-loving antagonist Jame Gumb.
How to Understand the Criminal Mind By Reading This Novel|Casey N. Cep|December 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
For a contemporary manifestation of this moth-eaten brand of tyranny, look no further than Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Hamas: The Palestinian Fashion Police|Hussein Ibish|April 9, 2013|DAILY BEAST
What does it mean for a Chinese tiger, stuffed by the English, to be left as moth-food today?
An Asian Tiger, Choking on Dust|Blake Gopnik|October 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST

Ain't no surer sign o' poor soil than a passel o' mullein stalks.
Dorothy at Skyrie|Evelyn Raymond
The (p. 325) moth, whose egg produces these larv, is a large white miller of unusual size and prolificness.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth: where the rust, and moth consume, and where thieves break through, and steal.
The Bible, Douay-Rheims Version|Various
I also saw the clerk busy folding up a moth-eaten velvet pall—not a sight for Christmas Day.
A Thin Ghost and Others|M. R. (Montague Rhodes) James
Spinning—he was for ever spinning, like a tireless moth through a fiery air; and the world went roaring past.
When Valmond Came to Pontiac, Complete|Gilbert Parker