Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Herb

Herb, n. [OE. herbe, erbe, OF. herbe, erbe, F. herbe, L. herba; perh. akin to Gr. φορβή food, pasture, φέρβειν to feed.] 1. A plant whose stem does not become woody and permanent, but dies, at least down to the ground, after flowering.

☞ Annual herbs live but one season; biennial herbs flower the second season, and then die; perennial herbs produce new stems year after year.

2. Grass; herbage.

And flocks Grazing the tender herb. Milton.

Herb bennet. (Bot.) See Bennet. — Herb Christopher (Bot.), an herb (Actæa spicata), whose root is used in nervous diseases; the baneberry. The name is occasionally given to other plants, as the royal fern, the wood betony, etc. — Herb Gerard (Bot.), the goutweed; — so called in honor of St. Gerard, who used to be invoked against the gout. Dr. Prior. — Herb grace, or Herb of grace. (Bot.) See Rue. — Herb Margaret (Bot.), the daisy. See Marguerite. — Herb Paris (Bot.), an Old World plant related to the trillium (Paris quadrifolia), commonly reputed poisonous. — Herb Robert (Bot.), a species of Geranium (G. Robertianum.)

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.