pokeweed

[ pohk-weed ]

/ ˈpoʊkˌwid /

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noun

any of numerous and usually toxic plants of the genus Phytolacca, including P. americana, of North America, having juicy purple berries and a purple root used in folk medicine, and young shoots resembling asparagus: pokeweed species vary greatly in height, with some growing to about 3.2 feet (1 meter) and others as tall as 82 feet (25 meters).

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Also called poke, poke·root

[pohk-root, -root], /ˈpoʊkˌrut, -ˌrʊt/, scoke, garget.

Origin of pokeweed

An Americanism dating back to 1745–55; poke⁴ + weed¹

Words nearby pokeweed

poker dice, poker face, poker-faced, poker machine, pokerwork, pokeweed, pokey, pokie, poky, pol, Pola

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pokeweed in a sentence

Mr. Pokeweed was promptly on hand, and tore madly into the burning pile, whence he soon emerged with a nude female.
The Fiend's Delight|Dod Grile
Just then the front wall toppled outward, and Pokeweed cleared the street at a single bound.
The Fiend's Delight|Dod Grile
Rivina, ri-vī′na, n. a genus of apetalous plants, the pokeweed family.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)|Various
Finely dressed visitors have come to the blue-berried juniper and the monstrous pokeweed of the terra-cotta stem.
Minstrel Weather|Marian Storm

Is there anywhere a more audacious beauty than the pokeweed in autumn?
In the Open|Stanton Davis Kirkham

British Dictionary definitions for pokeweed

pokeweed

pokeberry or pokeroot

/ (ˈpəʊkˌwiːd) /

noun

a tall North American plant, Phytolacca americana, that has small white flowers, juicy purple berries, and a poisonous purple root used medicinally: family PhytolaccaceaeSometimes shortened to: poke Also called: inkberry

Word Origin for pokeweed

C18 poke, shortened from Algonquian puccoon plant used in dyeing, from pak blood

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