ribwort

American  

[rib-wurt, -wawrt] / ˈrɪbˌwɜrt, -ˌwɔrt /

noun

1. English plantain.

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ribwort British  

/ ˈrɪbˌwɜːt /

noun

1. Also called: ribgrass.  a Eurasian plant, Plantago lanceolata , that has lancelike ribbed leaves, which form a rosette close to the ground, and a dense spike of small white flowers: family Plantaginaceae See also plantain 1

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Etymology

Origin of ribwort

1325–75; Middle English. See rib ¹, wort ²

Example Sentences

Consider the common lawn weed Plantago lanceolata, otherwise known as ribwort or buckhorn plantain, which has the longest dormancy in the United States, according to the report.

From Science Daily • Mar. 6, 2024

Many home-grown substitutes were used in Revolutionary times for tea: ribwort was a favorite one; strawberry and currant leaves, sage, thorough-wort, and "Liberty Tea," made from the four-leaved loosestrife.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Earle, Alice Morse

Rib′-band, a piece of timber bolted longitudinally to the ribs of a vessel to hold them in position; Rib′bing, an arrangement of ribs; Rib′-grass, the ribwort plantain.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

The undulating green expanse was studded with the black knobs of ribwort plantain and gemmed with buttercups, which here were dotted like sparks of fire, here massed in broad bunches and splashes of color.

From Lying Prophets by Phillpotts, Eden

The land here is of an excellent soil, and the climate is quite healthy; the soil being full of good herbs, as mints, calamint, plantain, ribwort, trefoil, scabious, and such like.

From A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 08 by Kerr, Robert