brooklime
(ˈbrʊklaɪm)
Forms: [1 hleomoce, 4–5 lemoke, lemeke, lemke], 5 brokelemke, -lempk, 6 brokelem, brooklem, -lyme, 7 brokelempe, brokelhempe, 6 brooklyme, -lime.
[Worn down from ME. brok-lemok, f. bróc brook + lemok:—OE. hleomoc, name of the plant.]
A species of Speedwell (Veronica Beccabunga) common on the edges of ditches; also a kindred species known as Lesser Brooklime or Narrow-leaved Water Speedwell (V. Anagallis).
| [c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 92 Hleomoce hatte wyrt sio weaxeð on broce. a 1387 Sinon. Barthol. (Mowat Anecd. Oxon. i.) Fabaria, lemke [printed levike]. a 1465 Alphita (Mowat Anecd. Oxon. ii.) 86 Fabaria..anglice lemeke uel lemoke.] a 1450 MS. Bodl. 536 (Plant names), Brokelemke. c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 185 Broke lempk..is good for ache. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (1881) 25 Called in englishe Brooklem, and in Duche Bauchbung. 1551 ― Herbal 98 Broocklyme. 1597 Gerard Herbal clxxxiv. 495 Brookelime or Brooklem, hath fat, thicke stalkes. 1614 Markham Cheape Husb. (ed. 3) 97 Take Brokelempe [ed. 1668 brooklime] the lesse, and frie it with Tallow. 1748 Anson Voy. ii. xii. (ed. 4) 364 Nor is there any other useful vegetable here worth mentioning except brook-lime. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xii. 124. 1846 Sowerby Eng. Bot. (1866) VI. 169 The leaves and young stems of the Brooklime were once in favour as an antiscorbutic. |