WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Hem"lock
Part of Speech : n.
Etymology : [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic, hymlic.]
Definition : 1. (Bot.)

Defn: 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.)

Defn: 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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913