tormentil

American  

[tawr-men-til] / ˈtɔr mɛn tɪl /

noun

1. a low European plant, Potentilla erecta, of the rose family, having small, bright-yellow flowers, and a strongly astringent root used in medicine and in tanning and dyeing.

---

tormentil British  

/ ˈtɔːməntɪl /

noun

1. Also called: bloodroot. a rosaceous downy perennial plant, Potentilla erecta, of Europe and W Asia, having serrated leaves, four-petalled yellow flowers, and an astringent root used in medicine, tanning, and dyeing

---

Etymology

Origin of tormentil

1350–1400; Middle English tormentille < Medieval Latin tormentilla, equivalent to Latin torment ( um ) torment + -illa diminutive suffix

---

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tormentil

Sometimes they scuttled along open turf, colored like a tapestry meadow with self-heal, centaury and tormentil.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

Here and there a yellow tormentil showed in the grass, a late harebell or a few shreds of purple bloom on a brown, crisping tuft of self-heal.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

A red dead-nettle, a mauve thistle, white and pink bramble flowers, a white strawberry, a little yellow tormentil, a broad yellow dandelion, narrow hawkweeds, and blue scabious, are all in flower in the lane.

From Field and Hedgerow Being the Last Essays of Richard Jefferies by Richard Jefferies

Take a handful of horehound, a handful of rue, a handful of hyssop, and the same quantity of ground ivy and of tormentil, with a small quantity of long plantain, pennyroyal, and five finger.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Mary Eaton

The little yellow flowers of tormentil are common in the grass as autumn approaches, and grasshoppers, which do not seem plentiful here, sing there.

From The Toilers of the Field by Richard Jefferies

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

---