Hemlock definitions

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HEM'LOCK, n.
1. A plant of the genus Conium, whose leaves and root are poisonous. Also, the Cicuta maculata.
2. A tree of the genus Pinus, an evergreen.
3. A poison, an infusion or decoction of the poisonous plant.
Popular liberty might then have escaped the indelible reproach of decreeing to the same citizens the hemlock on one day, and statues on the next.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: poisonous drug derived from an Eurasian plant of the genus Conium; "Socrates refused to flee and died by drinking hemlock"
2: large branching biennial herb native to Eurasia and Africa and adventive in North America having large fernlike leaves and white flowers; usually found in damp habitats; all parts extremely poisonous [syn: hemlock, poison hemlock, poison parsley, California fern, Nebraska fern, winter fern, Conium maculatum]
3: soft coarse splintery wood of a hemlock tree especially the western hemlock
4: an evergreen tree [syn: hemlock, hemlock tree]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English hemlok, from Old English hemlic Date: before 12th century 1. a. any of several poisonous herbs (as a poison hemlock or a water hemlock) of the carrot family having finely cut leaves and small white flowers b. a drug or lethal drink prepared from the poison hemlock 2. any of a genus (Tsuga) of evergreen coniferous trees of the pine family; also the soft light splintery wood of a hemlock

Britannica Concise

Any of 10 species of coniferous evergreen trees that make up the genus Tsuga, in the pine family, native to N. America and central and E Asia. Some are important timber trees, and many are popular ornamentals. Other plants commonly called hemlock include ground hemlock (see yew) and poison hemlock and water hemlock (parsley family). A true hemlock is a tall, pyramidal tree with purplish or reddish-brown bark, slender horizontal or drooping branches, and short, blunt leaves that grow from woody cushionlike structures on the twigs.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a a poisonous umbelliferous plant, Conium maculatum, with fernlike leaves and small white flowers. b a poisonous potion obtained from this. 2 (in full hemlock fir or spruce) a any coniferous tree of the genus Tsuga, having foliage that smells like hemlock when crushed. b the timber or pitch of these trees. Etymology: OE hymlic(e)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Hemlock Hem"lock, n. [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic, hymlic.] 1. (Bot.) The name of several poisonous umbelliferous herbs having finely cut leaves and small white flowers, as the Cicuta maculata, bulbifera, and virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium. Note: The potion of hemlock administered to Socrates is by some thought to have been a decoction of Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, by others, of Conium maculatum. 2. (Bot.) An evergreen tree common in North America (Abies, or Tsuga, Canadensis); hemlock spruce. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. --Longfellow. 3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree. Ground hemlock, or Dwarf hemlock. See under Ground.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Hemlock is a poisonous plant.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Heb. rosh (Hos. 10:4; rendered "gall" in Deut. 29:18; 32:32; Ps. 69:21; Jer. 9:15; 23:15; "poison," Job 20:16; "venom," Deut. 32:33). "Rosh is the name of some poisonous plant which grows quickly and luxuriantly; of a bitter taste, and therefore coupled with wormwood (Deut. 29:18; Lam. 3:19). Hence it would seem to be not the hemlock cicuta, nor the colocynth or wild gourd, nor lolium darnel, but the poppy so called from its heads" (Gesenius, Lex.).

(2.) Heb. la'anah, generally rendered "wormwood" (q.v.), Deut. 29:18, Text 17; Prov. 5:4; Jer. 9:15; 23:15. Once it is rendered "hemlock" (Amos 6:12; R.V., "wormwood"). This Hebrew word is from a root meaning "to curse," hence the accursed.

Moby Thesaurus

beheading, belladonna, burning, capital punishment, castor-oil plant, crucifixion, deadly nightshade, death camas, decapitation, decollation, defenestration, electrocution, ergot, execution, foxglove, fusillade, garrote, gassing, hanging, henbane, horsetail, jimsonweed, judicial murder, lapidation, mayapple, mescal bean, monkshood, necktie party, poison ivy, poison parsley, poison sumac, poisoning, pokeweed, shooting, stoning, strangling, strangulation, the ax, the block, the chair, the gallows, the gas chamber, the guillotine, the hot seat, the rope