wort1
[wurt, wawrt]
- the unfermented or fermenting infusion of malt that after fermentation becomes beer or mash.
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Origin of wort1
wort2
[wurt, wawrt]
- a plant, herb, or vegetable (now usually used only in combination): figwort.
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Origin of wort2
before 900; Middle English; Old English wyrt root, plant; cognate with Old High German wurz, Old Norse urt herb, Gothic waurts root; akin to root1, Old Norse rōt, Latin rādīx, Greek rhíza
wort3
[wurt]
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for wort
Contemporary Examples
It is unpasteurized and unfiltered, and the wort reaches the boiling point but never boils.
Historical Examples
One only thing they feared, and that was the great St. John's wort.
This frothing and foaming of the wort is a proof that the fermentation is active.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2John Tyndall
The natural reaction of the wort should not be interfered with.
The Elements of Bacteriological TechniqueJohn William Henry Eyre
I haf been robbed—robbed by Denson himself, wit'out a wort of doubt.
The Red TriangleArthur Morrison
Boil them with the wort, two hours, from the time it begins to boil.
A Poetical Cook-BookMaria J. Moss
wort
- (in combination) any of various unrelated plants, esp ones formerly used to cure diseasesliverwort; spleenwort
- the sweet liquid obtained from the soaked mixture of warm water and ground malt, used to make a malt liquor
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Word Origin
Old English wyrt root, related to Old High German warz, Gothic waurts root
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for wort
n.
"a plant," Old English wyrt "root, herb," from Proto-Germanic *wurtiz (cf. Old Saxon wurt, Old Norse, Danish urt, Old High German wurz "plant, herb," German Wurz, Gothic waurts, Old Norse rot "root"), from PIE root *wrad- "twig, root" (see radish). St. John's wort attested from 15c.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper