▪ I. ˈragwort1
[Prob. f. rag n.1, in reference to the ragged form of the leaves.]
1. The popular name of several species of the genus Senecio, esp. the common ragwort, Senecio Jacobæa. (See also ragweed.)
The first quot. may belong to sense 2.
| c 1450 M.E. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 205 Tak lytwort..plantayne, Ragwort [etc.]. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. xxvi. 218, S. Iames his woort: the countrey people do call it..also Ragwoorte. Ibid. 219 Lande Ragwoort groweth euerywhere in vntilled pastures and fieldes. 1678 Phillips Ragwort (Jacobæa), an Herb of Mars of a bitter, discussing and cleansing quality. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Jacobæa, The species of Ragwort enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are these [etc.]. 1792 Burns Let. to Grose Prose Wks. (1869) 210 A crew of men and women, who were busy pulling stems of the plant Ragwort. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. viii. (ed. 2) 176 In drier places, the handsome foxglove is beautifully contrasted with the golden yellow of the ragwort. 1885 J. Runciman Skippers & Sh. 104 When the yellow moths began to twirl round the ragworts. |
b. African ragwort = othonne. rare—0.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 324. 1866 Treas. Bot. 956/2. |
† 2. The wild parsnip. Obs. rare—0.
| 1570 Levins Manip. 173/29 Ragworte, elephabascum. [For elaphoboscon (Pliny) = Gr. ἐλαϕοβόσκον.] |
▪ II. † ragwort2 Obs.
[ad. G. ragwurz, f. rag stiff: see Grimm s.v.]
= gandergoose (Orchis mascula).
| 1552 Elyot, Orchis,..some call it in English gandergoose some raggewoorte. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. lvi. 222 In English some cal it also Orchis,..Ragworte, Priest pintell. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 265 As for Ragworts [margin, Orchis] they cure morimals also, either drie or greene. |