WOAD • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Woad

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noun

Woad n. (Written also wad, and wade)

(Bot.) An herbaceous cruciferous plant (Isatis tinctoria) of the family Cruciferae (syn. Brassicaceae). It was formerly cultivated for the blue coloring matter derived from its leaves. See isatin.

A blue dyestuff, or coloring matter, consisting of the powdered and fermented leaves of the Isatis tinctoria. It is now superseded by indigo, but is somewhat used with indigo as a ferment in dyeing. "Their bodies... painted with woad in sundry figures."

Wild woad (Bot.), the weld (Reseda luteola). See Weld.

Woad mill, a mill grinding and preparing woad.

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Etymology of 'Woad'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Woad" Quotes from Famous Books

... wiser to have brought a wife with him, though, and I thought it was understood by the good lady that spoke to me down at the harbour, or I'd have mentioned it earlier. The savages in my Tin Islands go naked and stain themselves blue with woad, and are very filthy and brutish to look upon. They are sturdy, and should make good slaves, but one would have to get blunted in the taste before one could wish to be father ...

— The Lost Continent • C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne

Words linked to "Woad" : Isatis, herb, dyer's woad, genus Isatis, Isatis tinctoria