Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An annual Eurasian plant (Isatis tinctoria) in the mustard family, formerly cultivated for its leaves that yield a blue dye.
  • noun The dye obtained from this plant.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A cruciferous plant, Isatistinctoria, formerly much cultivated in Great. Britain on account of the blue dye extracted from its pulped and fermented leaves.

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

  • noun (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.
  • noun 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 It is now superseded by indigo, but is somewhat used with indigo as a ferment in dyeing.
  • noun (Bot.) the weld (Reseda luteola). See Weld.
  • noun a mill grinding and preparing woad.

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

  • noun Common name of the plant Isatis tinctoria whose leaves are used to make a blue dye.
  • noun The dye made from the plant Isatis tinctoria.
  • verb to plant or cultivate woad
  • verb to dye with woad

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

  • noun any of several herbs of the genus Isatis
  • noun a blue dyestuff obtained from the woad plant

Etymologies

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

[Middle English wode, from Old English wād.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English wode, from Old English wād ("woad"), from Proto-Germanic *waidan, *waidaz (“woad”), from Proto-Indo-European *wAit- (“woad”). Cognate with Old Frisian wēd ("woad"), Dutch weed ("woad"), German Waid ("woad").

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Examples

  • Your epic fantasy novel, The Dragons of Duncan's Ass Tattoo, can portray My Ass Tattoo's blue-skinned denizens, their miniature zeppelins, and their sphincter-worshipping rituals either accurately or inaccurately, with or without prejudice, but you ain't going to be appropriating their culture until you start covering yourseves in woad, living in airships and pouring libations to The One True Hole.

    Cultural Appropriation Hal Duncan 2006

  • Your epic fantasy novel, The Dragons of Duncan's Ass Tattoo, can portray My Ass Tattoo's blue-skinned denizens, their miniature zeppelins, and their sphincter-worshipping rituals either accurately or inaccurately, with or without prejudice, but you ain't going to be appropriating their culture until you start covering yourseves in woad, living in airships and pouring libations to The One True Hole.

    Archive 2006-06-01 Hal Duncan 2006

  • With these goes the Wadman, who dealt in, or grew, the dye-plant called woad; cf. Flaxman.

    The Romance of Names Ernest Weekley 1909

  • He need not indulge in what is called the woad argument; we sha'n't go back to the early

    Promenades of an Impressionist James Huneker 1890

  • Some few, however, are important, such as woad, weld, heather, walnut, alder, oak, some lichens; and many of the less important ones would produce valuable colours if experiments were made with the right mordants.

    Vegetable Dyes Being a Book of Recipes and Other Information Useful to the Dyer Ethel M. Mairet

  • These may be divided into two groups: (1) Fermentation vats, in which the action of reducing agents is brought about through the influences of the fermentation of organic bodies, such as woad, bran, treacle, etc; (2) Chemical vats in which the reducing effect is brought about by the reaction of various agents on one another.

    The Dyeing of Woollen Fabrics Franklin Beech

  • The 64-year-old's winning word was "woad," a plant whose leaves yield a blue dye.

    greatfallstribune.com - Local News 2009

  • The 64-year-old's winning word was "woad," a plant whose leaves yield a blue dye.

    unknown title 2009

  • The 64-year-old's winning word was "woad," a plant whose leaves yield a blue dye.

    unknown title 2009

  • Blue: Handful of woad or 2 cups chopped red cabbage*

    Robyn Griggs Lawrence: Dye Easter Eggs Naturally With Onions, Beets and Blueberries Robyn Griggs Lawrence 2011

Comments

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  • Mad, Furious; from saxon wod: insane.

    May 17, 2008

  • (adjective) - Mad; from Saxon wod, insanus. Wode occurs several times in Chaucer.

    --John Brockett's Glossary of North Country Words, 1825

    January 16, 2018