herbalist
(ˈhɜːbəlɪst)
[f. herbal n. (or its source) + -ist.]
1. One versed in the knowledge of herbs or plants; a collector of or writer on plants; a botanist. Now used of the early botanical writers.
| 1594 Dee Diary (Camden) 50 M{supr} Gherardt, the chirurgeon and herbalist. 1601 Cornwallyes Ess. ii. lii. (1631) 331, I am no herbalist, not curious about flowers and weeds. 1672 Mede's Wks. Life 5 He was a curious Florist, an accurate Herbalist, thoroughly vers'd in the Book of Nature. 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall 233 It is the Eryngium marinum of Herbalists. 1840 E. Newman Brit. Ferns (1844) 291 We learn from the herbalists that this plant was much in vogue as a medicine. |
2. A dealer in medicinal herbs or simples; one who prepares or administers herbal remedies.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) II. 218, I thought them to be some herbalistes, or some apothecaries. 1611 Florio, Herbaio, a Simpler, an Herbalist. 1814 Scott Wav. lxv, He left an old man, a herbalist, who was supposed to understand a little of medicine, to attend Waverley. 1851 Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib. 197 These bunches are afterwards hung up in the herbalists' shops. |