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

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

The ubiquitous dandelion is likewise golden; then we have birdsfoot trefoil, ragwort, agrimony, silver-weed, celandine, tormentil, yellow iris, St. John's wort, and a host of other flowers of the same hue.

From A Cotswold Village by Gibbs, J. Arthur

See Sanguinaria. µ In England the name is given to the tormentil, once used as a remedy for dysentery.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Webster, Noah

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 Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849