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spleenwort

[spleen-wurt, -wawrt]
noun
  1. any of various temperate and tropical ferns of the genera Asplenium and Diplazium, certain species of which are grown as ornamentals.
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Origin of spleenwort

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

Examples from the Web for spleenwort

Historical Examples

  • Still other species of ferns are known to hybridize more or less, as we saw in the case of Scott's spleenwort.

    The Fern Lover's Companion

    George Henry Tilton

  • Black and white maidenhair, spleenwort, hartstongue, and golden maidenhair.

  • Spleenwort is excellent good for melancholy people, helps the stranguary and breaks the Stone in the bladder.

British Dictionary definitions for spleenwort

spleenwort

noun
  1. any of various ferns of the genus Asplenium, esp A. trichomanes, that often grows on walls, having linear or oblong sori on the undersurface of the frondsSee also asplenium
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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