foxglove
nounEtymology From Middle English fox-glove, foxes glove, from Old English foxes glōfa (“foxglove”). By surface analysis, fox + glove.
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Any of genus Digitalis of about twenty species of herbaceous biennials native to the Old World, certain of which are prized for their showy flowers. The drug digitalis or digoxin was first isolated from the plant.
- Jemima alighted rather heavily, and began to waddle about in search of a convenient dry nesting-place. She rather fancied a tree-stump amongst some tall fox-gloves.1908, Beatrix Potter, The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck, New York: Frederick Warne & Co:
- I wonder whether the witches would be wearing on their fingers their ornaments of foxglove blossoms, often called witches' bells or harebells, sometimes known as witches' thimbles.1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 258:
1 more example
- There were bunches of wild garlic to keep out evil spirits, foxgloves for healing spells and hemlock and vervain for darker magic.1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 41:
- Derived terms
33 terms
big-flowered foxglove, Canary Island foxglove, Chinese foxglove, ciliate foxglove, common foxglove, creeping foxglove, desert foxglove, downy false foxglove, fairy foxglove, false foxglove, fingerhut foxglove, foxglove aphid, foxglove beardtongue, foxglove penstemon, foxglove pug, foxglove tree, giraffe foxglove, Grecian foxglove, hairy foxglove, lady's foxglove, large yellow foxglove, mullein foxglove, purple foxglove, rusty foxglove, small yellow foxglove, Spanish foxglove, strawberry foxglove, straw foxglove, sunset foxglove, wild foxglove, willow-leaved foxglove, woolly foxglove, yellow foxglove