Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A plant of the genus Saponaria, chiefly S. officinalis.
  • noun Any plant of the order Sapindaceæ. Lindley.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A common plant (Saponaria officinalis) of the Pink family; -- so called because its bruised leaves, when agitated in water, produce a lather like that from soap. Called also Bouncing Bet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any perennial herb of the genus Saponaria.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun plant of European origin having pink or white flowers and leaves yielding a detergent when bruised

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its yielding a soapy substance when the leaves are bruised.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

soap +‎ wort, from the soapy matter formed when the leaves are agitated in water.

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