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wort

noun
/wɜːt/UK/wɝt/US

Etymology

From Middle English wort, worte (“infusion of grain (probably malted barley) for brewing ale or beer; unfermented or incompletely fermented beer; infusion of honey and water for making mead; unfermented decoction or infusion of other substances used for food or medicine”) [and other forms], from Old English wurt, wyrt, wyrte (“wort in brewing”), from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju (“wort in brewing; seasoning, spice”) and *wurti (“root; spice”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”): see further at etymology 1. Cognates * Dutch wort (“wort in brewing”) * Middle Low German wert, werte (“infusion of malt in brewing; unfermented beer”) * Old High German wirz (“infusion of malt in brewing; unfermented beer”) (Middle High German wirz, modern German Wirz (“juice; sweet liquid; unfermented beer”) (obsolete); see also German Würze (“aroma; seasoning, spice; spiciness”)) * Old Norse virtr (Danish urt (“wort in brewing”), Icelandic virt, virtur, Norwegian vørter, Swedish vört)

  1. inherited from *wréh₂ds✻ — “a root”
  2. inherited from *wrōts✻ — “a root”
  3. inherited from *wurti✻ — “a root; a spice”
  4. inherited from wyrt — “a plant; vegetable; herb, spice”
  5. inherited from wort

Definitions

  1. Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants

    Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.

    • [T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed with barly brede and cakes of whete, and that the residue of their diete shulde be salte, olyues, chese, and likes, and more ouer wortes that the feldes do brynge furthe, for their potage.
    • [H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]
    • It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]

  2. Chiefly in the plural

    Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).

    • VVhy (ſay they in ſcorne and contempt of povertie) here is the ſtem of a vvoort ſo vvell grovvne, here is a cabbage ſo thriven and fed, that a poore mans boord vvill not hold it.
    • I am poore / And may expect a vvorſe; yet digging, pruning, / Mending of broken vvayes, carrying of vvater, / Planting of VVorts, and Onyons, any thing / That's honeſt, and a mans, Ile rather chooſe, […]
    • Though ne'er ſo mean the Viands be, / They vvell content my Prevv and me. / Or Pea, or Bean, or VVort, or Beet, / VVhat ever comes, content makes ſvveet: […]

  3. A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts)…

    A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.

  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. Also worts

      Also worts: a liquid extracted from mash (ground malt or some other grain soaked in hot water), which is then fermented to make beer, or fermented and distilled to make a malt liquor such as whisky.

      • Nay then tvvo treyes, an if you grovv ſo nice, / Methegline, VVort, and Malmſey; […]
      • Making the wort with nothing but barley malt and hot water is the standard method in Germany, and in many U.S. microbreweries.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for wort. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA