woodwaxen
(ˈwʊdˌwæksən)
Forms: 4–5 wodewexen, 6–9 woodwaxen, 9– woad-waxen.
[app. oblique case of OE. form of woodwax (wuduweaxan) taken as nom. The form woadwaxen is due to association with woad.]
The plant dyer's broom or greenweed, Genista tinctoria.
| 1367 Close Roll 41 Edw. III, m. 9 dorso, Tercia pars tocius comoditatis..tam in denariis quam de subbosco & wodewexen. a 1400 Old Usages Winchester in Engl. Gilds (1870) 358 Euerych a cart y-lade w{supt} mader, þ{supt} comeþ to selle, twey pans;..Also, y cart y-lade w{supt} wodewexen to sale, fowre pans. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 51 The Marigolde of Manardus is called Lysimachia... Woodwaxen [glastum]..groweth in Medowes and Pastures like to Brome. 1578 Lyte Dodoens vi. viii. 667 Of base Broome or Woodwaxen. 1650 [W. Howe] Phytol. Brit. 46. 1829 [see woodwaxer above]. 1861 S. Thomson Wild Fl. iii. (ed. 4) 236. 1946 G. Stimpson Thousand Things 50 It is supposed that the original green cloth made at Kendal by the Flemish weavers was colored with a dye obtained from the plant known as woadwaxen. |