† ˈmadnep Obs.
Also -nip.
[f. mad a. (cf. quot. 1686) + nep, nip, neep.]
The Cow Parsnip, Heracleum Sphondylium.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccclxxvii. 856 Spondylium..is called..in English Cow Parsnep, meddowe Parsnep, and Madnepe. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 181 Spondylium, a kind of wild Parsnep or Madnep. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. 161 The seed of the wilde Parsnipe being ripe about the beginning of August, and if they do flower for seed in the first year of sowing the Countrey people call them ‘Mad⁓neps’. 1686 Ray Hist. Plant. I. 410 Nostrates asserunt Pastinacas ipsas vetustiores & annosas delirium..inducere, unde eas Mad-neps..vocant. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 30 The Peasants call it the Mad Nip. |