goldthread

goldthread [gohld-thred] ExamplesWord Origin noun

1. a white-flowered plant, Coptis trifolia, of the buttercup family, having a slender, yellow root that is sometimes used as a tonic.

Origin of goldthread An Americanism dating back to 1770–80; gold + thread Examples from the Web for goldthread Historical Examples of goldthread

I’m goin’ into the pines arter some goldthread an’ sarsaparil’.

Country Neighbors

Alice Brown

What could be more unassuming than goldthread and wood-sorrel?

In the Open

Stanton Davis Kirkham

Goldthread was official in the United States Pharmacopoeia from 1820 to 1880.

Ginseng and Other Medicinal Plants

A. R. (Arthur Robert) Harding

It is also applied to the stalk or petiole of a carpel, in the rare cases when there is any, as in Goldthread.

The Elements of Botany

Asa Gray

Story-‘n’-a-half house, a good sullar, an’ woods nigh-by full o’ sarsaparilla an’ goldthread!

Meadow Grass

Alice Brown

British Dictionary definitions for goldthread goldthread noun

1. a North American woodland ranunculaceous plant, Coptis trifolia (or C. groenlandica), with slender yellow roots
2. the root of this plant, which yields a medicinal tonic and a dye