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wolfsbane

American

[woolfs-beyn] / 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

After joining forces, the international team set out to identify the precise sequence of biochemical steps used by wolfsbane and larkspur to make diterpenoid alkaloids.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 3, 2026

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

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

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