wolfsbane

American

[woolfs-bayn] / ˈwʊlfsˌbeɪn /

noun

any of several plants in the aconite genus Aconitum, including A. lycoctonum, bearing stalks of hood-shaped purplish-blue flowers, the monkshood A. napellus, which yields a poisonous alkaloid used medicinally, and numerous garden varieties in various colors.

wolfsbane British

/ ˈwʊlfsˌbeɪn /

noun

any of several poisonous N temperate plants of the ranunculaceous genus Aconitum, esp A. lycoctonum, which has yellow hoodlike flowers

"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

Etymology

Origin of wolfsbane

1540–50; wolf + 's 1 + bane

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

wolfsbane

The Pluskal Group, including Mutabdžija, was studying the same difficult family of diterpenoid alkaloids in wolfsbane, a famously poisonous relative of larkspur that is also known as monkshood.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

After identifying a promising collection of genes from wolfsbane and larkspur, the researchers transferred those genetic instructions into tobacco plants.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

Monkshood is also known as wolfsbane, which Harry Potter fans might recognize as a potion brewed to calm werewolves.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 28, 2023

We should investigate the possibility of using silver-lined space capsules and the hydroponic cultivation of wolfsbane.

From Scientific American ● Oct. 27, 2023

There was the awesome efficiency of wolfsbane with its deadly store of aconite.

From The Status Civilization by Robert Sheckley

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023