yarrows

Noun (1)

yarrow (usually uncountable, plural yarrows)

1. (usually) Any of several pungent Eurasian and North American herbs, of the genus Achillea, used in traditional herbal medicine.
   • Yarrow is one of the aboriginal English plants, and from time immemorial it has been used in incantations and by witches. Country folk still regard it as one of our most valuable herbs, especially for rheumatism.1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, Longmans, Green and Co.
2. (usually) Common yarrow, Achillea millefolium, the type species of the genus.
   • The Yarrow, where-with-all he stops the wound-made gore:1612, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 13 p. 218

   Synonyms:

   devil's nettle, sanguinary, soldier's woundwort, thousand-leaf

Noun (2)

yarrow (plural yarrows)

1. (UK) A green woodpecker, of species Picus viridis.

   Synonyms:

   achillea, milfoil, devil's nettle, sanguinary, soldier's woundwort, thousand-leaf

See all 11 meanings of yarrow