[syn: hemlock, hemlock tree]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
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, Cicuta bulbifera, and Cicuta
virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Bot.) An evergreen tree common in North America (Abies
Canadensis or Tsuga Canadensis); hemlock spruce.
[1913 Webster]
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. --Longfellow.
[1913 Webster]
3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree.
[1913 Webster]
Ground hemlock, or Dwarf hemlock. See under Ground.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
hemlock
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]