horehound, hoarhound
(ˈhɔərhaʊnd)
Forms: 1 háre h{uacu}ne, (háran h{uacu}nan), 3 horehune, 4 -houne, 5 horho(w)ne, haarhounde, 5–6 horehounde, 6– horehound, 8– hoarhound.
[OE. háre h{uacu}ne, f. hár hoar, hoary + h{uacu}ne name of a plant, of uncertain origin; thence ME. hôrhowne, altered by popular etymology to horehound, which puts some appearance of meaning into the second element. The analogical spelling is hoar-, but this is much less usual in England than hore-.]
1. A labiate herb, Marrubium vulgare, having stem and leaves covered with white cottony pubescence; its aromatic bitter juice is much used as a remedy for coughs, etc. Hence extended to several allied herbs (see b), horehound proper being then distinguished as common horehound or white horehound.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 110 Genim þa haran hunan. a 1100 Ags. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 298/6 Marubium, hare hune. c 1265 Voc. Names Pl. Ibid. 554/4 Marubium, maruil, horehune. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 80 Wiþ watir..þat mirre wormode, horhone, sauge, pimpernelle hony symple or compounned ben soden yn. c 1425 in Rel. Ant. II. 9 An heved hor als horhowne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 247/1 Horone, herbe..marubium. 1486 Bk. St. Albans C v b, Take the Juce of haarhounde. 1530 Palsgr. 232/1 Horehounde herbe, langue de chien. 1742 Lond. & Country Brew. i. (ed. 4) 38 That wholesome Herb Horehound, which, indeed, is a fine Bitter. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxii. 308 Common White Horehound. 1897 Willis Flower. Pl. II. 242 Marrubium vulgare, white horehound. |
b. With qualifying words: base horehound, White Dead-nettle, Lamium album; black, fetid, or stinking h., Ballota nigra, a common weed with dull purple flowers; water h., species of Lycopus, particularly L. Europæus.
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes (1881) 19 Ballote..is named in english stynkyng Horehound or blacke Horehound. Ibid. 77 Stachys..maye be named in englishe litle Horehounde or strayte Horehound. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. lxxxi. 255 There be foure kindes of Horehounde, in fasshion one like to another..The first kinde is our white Horehounde, the seconde is the blacke stinking Horehounde. The third is Stachys or field Horehounde. The fourth is water or Marrishe Horehounde. Ibid. 256 Stachys or wilde Horehounde. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxxi. 564. a 1625 Fletcher Faith. Sheph. ii. i, The Clote..And this black Hore-hound, both are very good. 1741 Compl. Fam.-Piece ii. iii. 380 Perennial shrubby Lamium or base Horehound. 1897 Willis Flower. Pl. II. 39 Ballota Nigra, the foetid horehound. |
2. An extract or confection of the plant Marrubium vulgare, used as a remedy for coughs.
| 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 51 b, Horehounde..is good to be geuen with hony vnto them that syghg much. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 55 The relative merits of almond-rock and candied horehound. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. (ed. 6) 475 Horehound, an aromatic stimulant. |
3. attrib. and Comb., as horehound candy, horehound drop, horehound lozenge, etc.; horehound beer, a fermented beverage containing horehound juice.
| 1855 Mrs. Gaskell North & S. v, She..took the hore⁓hound drop that Margaret offered her. 1861 Delamer Kitch. Gard. 127 Horehound lozenges are sold by most dispensing chemists, as expectorant medicine. |