hoarhound [hawr-hound, hohr-] Examples noun
horehound or hoar·hound [hawr-hound, hohr-] noun
- an Old World plant, Marrubium vulgare, of the mint family, having downy leaves and small, whitish flowers, and containing a bitter, medicinal juice that is used as an expectorant, vermifuge, and laxative.
- any of various plants of the mint family.
- a brittle candy or lozenge flavored with horehound extract.
Origin of horehound before 1000; Middle English horehune, Old English hārhūne, equivalent to hār gray, hoar + hūne horehound Examples from the Web for hoarhound Historical Examples of hoarhound
Hoarhound is very strengthening to the lungs, and is somewhat of a pectoral.
Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million
Sarah Josepha Hale
Same as Hoarhound, except make a liquor of Boneset instead of Hoarhound.
George V. Frye
Brother, you know he only called to get some of my hoarhound for Mehitable’s cough.
Harriet Beecher Stowe
Yessum, dey had a doctor sometime, but de most dey done wuz give ’em hoarhound, yellow root and tansy.
Work Projects Administration
There’s catnip and hoarhound and horsemint and pennyroy’l, and pretty soon there’ll be wild life-everlastin’.
Eliza Calvert Hall
British Dictionary definitions for hoarhound hoarhound noun
- a variant spelling of horehound
horehound hoarhound noun
- Also called: white horehound a downy perennial herbaceous Old World plant, Marrubium vulgare, with small white flowers that contain a bitter juice formerly used as a cough medicine and flavouring: family Lamiaceae (labiates)See also black horehound
- water horehound another name for bugleweed (def. 1)
Word Origin for horehound Old English hārhūne, from hār grey + hūne horehound, of obscure origin hoarhound in Medicine horehound [hôr′hound′] n.
- An aromatic Eurasian plant whose leaves yield a bitter extract that is used as a cough remedy.
- A candy or preparation flavored with this extract.