spearmint
(ˈspɪəmɪnt)
[f. spear n.1]
1. a. The common garden mint, Mentha viridis, much used in cookery.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. (1568) 54 Thys herbe is called with us gardin mynte, and as far as I remembre, it is called spere mynte, and if it be not named so, it may well be called so of the sharpnes of the lefe. 1584 Cogan Haven Health xvi. 38 One [kind] most fragrant in sauour..is called Spere Mint, and is vsed to be put in puddings. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxv. 552 The leaues of Speare Mint are long like those of the Willow tree. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 153 Of these two, the Speare-Mint is the more excellent. 1666 Boyle Orig. Forms & Qual. 124 Raphanus Aquaticus, Spearemint, and even Ranunculus it self, did grow..in Viols filld with fair water. 1717 Berkeley Jrnl. Tour Italy Wks. 1871 IV. 552 Air perfumed with speermint growing over an ample space. 1779 Forrest Voy. N. Guinea 247 In this garden he had..onions, parsley, spearment, and the Spanish raddish. 1807 P. Gass Jrnl. 103 There is in the bottoms a great quantity of spear-mint and currant bushes. 1811 A. T. Thomson Lond. Disp. (1818) 255 Spearmint is stomachic and carminative. 1882 Garden 6 May 320/1 Mint should now be planted, both the Spearmint and Peppermint. |
b. With pl. A plant of this.
| 1539 Elyot Cast. Helthe 78 Mylke, newe mylked, wherin is put..three leaues of good speare myntes. 1620 Venner Via Recta ii. 44 Take..of Speremints, of Balme, of each one handfull. |
c. ellipt. A piece of chewing-gum flavoured with the oil extracted from this plant.
| 1920 ‘Sapper’ Bull-Dog Drummond ix. 240 A grim-faced man at the wheel..had apparently felt the seriousness of the occasion so acutely, as to deposit his third piece of spearmint on the underneath side of the steering-wheel for greater safety. 1945 J. Steinbeck Cannery Row i. 9 No Abbeville child..knew the lack of a stick of spearmint ever afterward. |
2. attrib. and Comb., as spearmint-leaf, spearmint oil, spearmint root, spearmint water.
| 1662 R. Mathew Unl. Alch. 192 Put into it one quart of Rose-water, and one quart of Spermint-water. 1681 Grew Musæum i. vii. ii. 165 Not Oval, but rather expressing the figure of a Speer-Mint-Leaf. 1757 A. Cooper Distiller ii. v. (1760) 126 The simple Waters now commonly made, are Orange-flower-water,..Spear-mint-water [etc.]. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 306 Plant spear-mint roots in a hot bed. 1857 Miller Elem. Chem., Org. vii. §1. 448 Indifferent oils, such as spearmint oil (C20 H20 O2). 1860 J. W. Warter Sea-board II. 29 All I could give her was some spearmint water. |