Adjacent Words

Mustard definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MUS'TARD, n. A plant of the genus Sinapis,and its seed, which has a pungent taste and is a powerful stimulant. It is used externally in cataplasms, and internally as a diuretic and stimulant.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any of several cruciferous plants of the genus Brassica
2: pungent powder or paste prepared from ground mustard seeds [syn: mustard, table mustard]
3: leaves eaten as cooked greens [syn: mustard, mustard greens, leaf mustard, Indian mustard]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French mustarde, from must must, from Latin mustum Date: 13th century 1. a. a pungent yellow powder of the seeds of any of several common mustards (Brassica hirta, B. nigra, or B. juncea) used as a condiment or in medicine as a stimulant and diuretic, an emetic, or a counterirritant b. slang zest 2. any of several herbs (genus Brassica of the family Cruciferae syn. Brassicaceae, the mustard family) with lobed leaves, yellow flowers, and linear beaked pods 3. a dark to moderate yellow • mustardy adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a any of various plants of the genus Brassica with slender pods and yellow flowers, esp. B. nigra. b any of various plants of the genus Sinapis, esp. S. alba, eaten at the seedling stage, often with cress. 2 the seeds of these which are crushed, made into a paste, and used as a spicy condiment. 3 the brownish-yellow colour of this condiment. 4 sl. a thing which adds piquancy or zest. Phrases and idioms: mustard gas a colourless oily liquid, whose vapour is a powerful irritant and vesicant. mustard plaster a poultice made with mustard. mustard seed 1 the seed of the mustard plant. 2 a small thing capable of great development (Matt.
13:31). Etymology: ME f. OF mo(u)starde: orig. the condiment as prepared with MUST(2)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mustard Mus"tard, n. [OF. moustarde, F. moutarde, fr. L. mustum must, -- mustard was prepared for use by being mixed with must. See Must, n.] 1. (Bot.) The name of several cruciferous plants of the genus Brassica (formerly Sinapis), as white mustard (B. alba), black mustard (B. Nigra), wild mustard or charlock (B. Sinapistrum). Note: There are also many herbs of the same family which are called mustard, and have more or less of the flavor of the true mustard; as, bowyer's mustard (Lepidium ruderale); hedge mustard (Sisymbrium officinale); Mithridate mustard (Thlaspi arvense); tower mustard (Arabis perfoliata); treacle mustard (Erysimum cheiranthoides). 2. A powder or a paste made from the seeds of black or white mustard, used as a condiment and a rubefacient. Taken internally it is stimulant and diuretic, and in large doses is emetic. Mustard oil (Chem.), a substance obtained from mustard, as a transparent, volatile and intensely pungent oil. The name is also extended to a number of analogous compounds produced either naturally or artificially.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mustards) 1. Mustard is a yellow or brown paste usually eaten with meat. It tastes hot and spicy. ...a pot of mustard... N-MASS 2. Mustard is used to describe things that are brownish yellow in colour. ...a mustard coloured jumper. COLOUR 3. If someone does not cut the mustard, their work or their performance is not as good as it should be or as good as it is expected to be. (INFORMAL) PHRASE: V inflects, usu with neg

Easton's Bible Dictionary

a plant of the genus sinapis, a pod-bearing, shrub-like plant, growing wild, and also cultivated in gardens. The little round seeds were an emblem of any small insignificant object. It is not mentioned in the Old Testament; and in each of the three instances of its occurrence in the New Testament (Matt. 13:31, 32; Mark 4:31, 32; Luke 13:18, 19) it is spoken of only with reference to the smallness of its seed. The common mustard of Palestine is the Sinapis nigra. This garden herb sometimes grows to a considerable height, so as to be spoken of as "a tree" as compared with garden herbs.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mus'-tard (sinapi (Mt 13:31; Mr 4:31; Lu 13:19; Mt 17:20; Lu 17:6)): The minuteness of the seed is referred to in all these passages, while in the first three the large size of the herb growing from it is mentioned. In Mt 13:32 it is described as "greater than the herbs, and becometh a tree" (compare Lu 13:19); in Mr 4:32 it "becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches." Several varieties of mustard (Arabic, khardal) have notably small seed, and under favorable conditions grow in a few months into very tall herbs--10 to 12 ft. The rapid growth of an annual herb to such a height must always be a striking fact. Sinapis nigra, the black mustard, which is cultivated, Sinapis alba, or white mustard, and Sinapis arvensis, or the charlock (all of Natural Order Cruciferae), would, any one of them, suit the requirements of the parable; birds readily alight upon their branches to eat the seed (Mt 13:32, etc.), not, be it noted, to build their nests, which is nowhere implied.

Among the rabbis a "grain of mustard" was a common expression for anything very minute, which explains our Lord's phrase, "faith as a grain of mustard seed" (Mt 17:20; Lu 17:6).

The suggestion that the New Testament references may allude to a tall shrub Salvadora persica, which grows on the southern shores of the Dead Sea, rests solely upon the fact that this plant is sometimes called khardal by the Arabs, but it has no serious claim to be the sinapi of the Bible.

E. W. G. Masterman