Subscriber login


Forgot your password?

Library card login

Other

loosestrife

Pronunciation: /ˈluːsˌstrʌɪf/
Definition of loosestrife

noun

  • any of a number of tall plants which bear upright spikes of flowers and grow by water and in wet ground:
    • several plants of the genus Lythrum (family Lythraceae), in particular the purple loosestrife (L. salicaria) of the Old World. several plants of the genus Lysimachia (family Primulaceae), in particular the yellow loosestrife (L. vulgaris) of Eurasia.

Origin:

mid 16th century: from loose + strife, taking the Greek name lusimakheion (actually from Lusimakhos, the name of its discoverer) to be directly from luein 'undo' + makhē 'battle'

loosestrife in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of loosestrife in the US English dictionary
  |  Cite

Word of the day

enjambement

/ ɪnˈdʒam(b)m(ə)nt /
noun
(in verse) the continuation of a sentence without a pause …