rosemaryn.
/ˈrəʊzm(ə)ri/, U.S. /ˈroʊzˌmɛri/ 1.
a. An evergreen aromatic shrub, Rosmarinus officinalis (family Lamiaceae ( Labiatae)), native to southern Europe and having narrow, needle-like leaves which are used as a culinary herb, in perfumery, and (esp. formerly) in medicine.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > fragrant plants or plants used in perfumery > [noun] > trees or shrubs > rosemary
rosmarinea1393
anthos?a1425
rosemarya1425
garland-rose1635
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > vegetables > herb > [noun] > other herbs
maroilea1400
purslanea1400
centinode?a1425
rosemarya1425
sauce-alone1530
samphire1542
larix1548
ancoly1561
Crestmarine1565
tarragon1591
fish-basil1597
muscado1612
Jew's mallow1640
mekin1688
Tarentine1698
Shawnee salad1780
hemidesmus1809
roquette1900
a1425 (a1399) Forme of Cury (BL Add.) 78 in C. B. Hieatt & S. Butler Curye on Inglysch (1985) 115 Salat. Take persel, sawge, grene garlec,..rosemarye, purslarye; laue and waische hem clene.
?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 68v Take the flouris of the rosemarye and bynde hym in lyn clothe.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 437 Rose mary, herbe [King's Cambr. rosemaryne], rosmarinus, rosa marina.
1523 J. Skelton Goodly Garlande of Laurell 980 The ruddy rosary, The souerayne rosemary, The praty strawbery.
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball 263 Rosemary floureth twise a yeare, once in the spring time of the yeare, and secondarily in August.
1603 T. Dekker 1603: Wonderfull Yeare sig. D2v Rosemary which had wont to be solde for 12. pence an armefull, went now for sixe shillings a handfull.
1682 N. Grew Idea Philos. Hist. Plants 17 in Anat. Plants Some Vegetables lose their Smell, as Roses; others, keep it, as Rosemary.
1712 J. Browne tr. P. Pomet et al. Compl. Hist. Druggs I. 211 Aromatick Herbes, as Thyme, Rosemary, Lavender, and the like.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xii. 131 If you compare the flowers of Sage and Rosemary together, you will find them agree in most..particulars.
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 992/1 Rose~mary..is employed in the form of lotion and wash for the hair.
1882 ‘Ouida’ In Maremma I. 115 Its sides were clothed with myrtle, aloe, and rosemary.
1920 ‘K. Mansfield’ Let. 4 Mar. (1993) III. 239 The rosemary is in flower (our plant it is) the almond trees, pink & white, there are wild cherry trees & the prickly pear white among the olives.
1991 Garbage Mar.–Apr. 53/1 To attract butterflies, Mr. Turner has planted old-fashioned flowers such as yarrow, rosemary, lavender, and sweet scabious.
2004 What's Happening in Dar es Salaam Apr. 30/1 Beef strips had been stir fried with rosemary over a charcoal fire to produce a smoky aromatic dish.
b. As a count noun: an individual rosemary plant; a variety of rosemary.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > fragrant plants or plants used in perfumery > [noun] > trees or shrubs > rosemary > a plant or species of
rosemary1805
1805 Boston Rev. Oct. 531/2 There are daisies, fennel, and columbines; there are rosemaries, pansies, and rue.
1866 Cornhill Mag. Nov. 537 A tangled growth of heaths and arbutus, and pines, and rosemaries.
1919 National Geographic Mag. Feb. 181/2 The cranberry belongs to the heath family, which also embraces the azaleas, the lilacs, the rhododendrons, the heathers and some of the rosebays and rosemaries.
1981 Farmstead Mag. Winter 70/1 Large rosemaries are always a challenge to the indoor gardener who does not have a greenhouse.
2002 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 May viii. 13/6 Other rosemaries, like Prostratus and Mrs. Howard's Creeping, are sprawlers. In the wild, they grow over rocks.
2. This plant used as an emblem, esp. of remembrance.Through its association with remembrance, rosemary has traditionally been used at both funerals and weddings, including at meals associated with these.
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the mind > mental capacity > memory > reminder, putting in mind > [noun] > emblem of remembrance
rosemary1559
the world > life > death > obsequies > formal or ceremonial mourning > [noun] > plants or trees as signs of mourning
yewa1450
rosemary1559
cypress1590
willow-branch1622
society > society and the community > kinship or relationship > marriage or wedlock > wedding or nuptials > equipment or accessories of wedding > [noun] > emblem or favour
rosemary1559
wedding-favour1681
bride-knot1694
bridal favour1756
orange blossomc1835
1559 Passage Quene Elyzabeth (new ed.) sig. E.iiiv A branche of Rosemary geuen to her grace with a supplication by a poore woman aboute flete bridge.
1584 C. Robinson et al. Handefull Pleasant Delites (new ed.) sig. Aiiv Rosemarie is for remembrance, betweene vs daie and night.
1597 W. Shakespeare Romeo & Juliet iv. iv. 106 Sticke your Rosemary in this dead coarse, And as the custome of our Country is. View more context for this quotation
1601 W. Cornwallis Ess. II. l. sig. Nn6 As trim as a Brides rosemary.
1603 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. v. 175 There's rosemary..For remembrance.
1613 F. Beaumont Knight of Burning Pestle v. sig. I3 Wee will haue..a good peece of beefe, stucke with rose-mary.
1664 T. Killigrew Parsons Wedding v. i, in Comedies & Trag. 138 Go get you in then, and let your husband dip the Rosemary.
1682 Will of Ann Tooker (P.R.O.: PROB. 11/370) f. 294v My body to the earth without any other ceremony than Rosemary and wine.
1700 T. Brown Amusem. Serious & Comical iii. 22 There goes a Funeral, with the Men of Rosemary after it.
1706 R. Estcourt Fair Example iii. i I dreamt last Night of Rosemary, that betokens Honour.
1725 H. Bourne Antiquitates Vulgares iii. 19 The carrying of Ivy, or Laurel, or Rosemary, or some of those Ever-Greens [at funerals], is an Emblem of the Soul's Immortality.
1808 W. Scott Marmion vi. Introd. 302 Then the grim boar's-head frowned on high, Crested with bays and rosemary.
1879 Oddfellows' Mag. Jan. 24 The whole strewed their sprigs of rosemary on the coffin.
1922 Times 29 May 9/3 The sender of a sprig of rosemary, inscribed ‘Rosemary for remembrance. From a Suffolk Garden.’ will like to know that he laid this tribute on the explorer's grave.
1975 V. K. Gokak Integral View Poetry xiii. 192 Rosemary is the emblem of remembrance both at weddings and funerals.
2002 F. W. Hoffmann Herbal Med. 130 Wedding customs surrounding rosemary stressed its association with marital fidelity.
3. Any of various plants of other genera and families that resemble rosemary in some respect. Usually with distinguishing word.marsh, poet's, sea rosemary, etc.: see the first element.
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1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. vi. 1109 This wilde Rosmarie is a small woodie shrub, growing seldome aboue a foote high, having hard branches of a reddish colour.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Rosmarin sauvage, (the red-branched) wild Rosemarie.
1670 J. Ray Catalogus Plantarum Angliæ 267 Rosmarinum sylvestre minus nostras Park.... Wild Rosemary. We have observed it in many Mosses and moorish grounds in Cheshire.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. App. Spanish-Rosemary, a name sometimes given to the Thymelæa of botanists.
1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 325 Rosemary, Lesser Wild, Andromeda.
1862 C. A. Johns Brit. Birds 426 A shrub (popularly known on the coast of Norfolk by the name of ‘Rosemary’), the Suæda fruticosa, Shrubby Sea Blite, of botanists.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. 395/2 Rosemary, Golden, name given in Tasmania to the plant Oxylobium ellipticum.
1943 Ecol. Monogr. 13 9 Francis Harper (1931) noted Labrador tea (Ledum palustris), cranberry, wild rosemary, and others in the Athabaska and Great Slave Lake region.
1997 R. Buchanan Winter Garden 39 Cumberland rosemary, Conradinia verticillata, is unrelated but is also a small native shrub with evergreen, rosemary-like foliage and pink flowers.
2004 B. L. Moore Neither led nor driven 42 Rosemary (Croton linearis), parrot or spiritweed (Eryngium foetidum)..and water weed (Medilis gracilis) were all used for this purpose.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as rosemary branch, rosemary bush, rosemary flower, rosemary oil, rosemary tea, etc.
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?c1450 in G. Müller Aus Mittelengl. Medizintexten (1929) 125 (MED) Putte hem..in-to þe potte, and a quantite of rose-mary-lewys.
1557 Earl of Surrey et al. Songes & Sonettes sig. Z.ii (heading) Of a Rosemary braunche sente.
1577 tr. ‘F. de L'Isle’ Legendarie sig. Bvjv But as sone as she had gotten her desired pray, she gaue them a rosemarie wipe, dismissing them.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words Rosmaro,..also a Rosemary-tree.
1653 Bk. of Fruits & Flowers 47 Take a loaf of Bread, cut away the crust, set it in a platter, and a great Rosemary bush in the middest of it.
1674 W. Petty Disc. before Royal Soc. 75 A foot square of a Rosemary-Field may be smelt one Perch or Rod.
1728 E. Chambers Cycl. at Rosemary Conserve of Rosemary Flowers, Essence of Rosemary, Rosemary-Water, &c.
1783 S. Chapman in Med. Communications 1 305 He was advised to leave off drinking foreign tea, and to drink valerian, or rosemary, tea.
1809 R. Southey Thalaba (ed. 2) II. ix. 145 In this valley we found plenty of provender for our cattle: rosemary bushes, and other shrubs of uncommon fragrance.
1826 J. Rennie New Suppl. Pharmacopœias 264 Ointment for the growth of hair on rubbed places... Take ℥ij of ointment of yellow wax, ℥ij of camphor, ℥j of rosemary oil.
1904 W. de la Mare Henry Brocken 193 This thick rosemary-bush that smells of exile.
1977 R. B. Tisserand Art of Aromatherapy xi. 281 Rosemary oil is clear and has a warm, sharp, camphoraceous taste.
1998 N. Lawson How to Eat (1999) 187 Finely chop the garlic, rosemary needles and orange zest.
C2. † rosemary-stone n. English regional. Obsolete rare a kind of friable stone found in nodules and used as a source of a deep yellow pigment, perhaps yellow ochre; a nodule of this stone.The origin of the name is unknown.
rosemary-leaved adj. now rare having leaves like those of rosemary.
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the world > plants > part of plant > leaf > plant defined by leaves > [adjective] > having leaves of particular shape or size
broad-leaved1552
long-leaved1562
narrow-leaved1578
round-leaved1597
small-leaved1597
long-leafed1629
rosemary-leaved1633
rue-leaved1633
teretifolious1657
cut-leaved1731
longleaf1733
channel-leaved1758
halberd-shaped1770
alder-leaved1772
oak-leaved1776
holly-leaved1777
ivy-leaved1789
halberd-headed1795
daisy-leaved1796
narrow-leaf1804
oblique-leaved1807
sword-leaved1807
wing-leaved1822
flaggy1842
curly1845
macrophyllous1857
parvifolious1857
shield-leaved1860
curled1861
symphyllous1877
beak-leaved188.
stenophyllous1880
thread-leaved1884
megaphyllous1901
little leaf1908
ivy-leaf1909
1633 T. Johnson Gerard's Herball (new ed.) iii. vii. 1290 Rosemary leauved Cistus.
1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Myrtus Rosemary-leav'd Myrtle.
1863 Mag. of Hort. 29 446 The silvery hue of the Rosemary-leaved willow.
1955 Ecology 36 123/1 Rosemary-leaved Kalmia.
rosemary pine n. any of several pine trees of the south-eastern United States, esp. the loblolly pine, Pinus taeda, the foliage of which has a distinctive rosemary-like fragrance.
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1859 G. W. Perry Turpentine Farming 26 Rosemary pine.—There is less of this kind of pine than any other that is used for turpentine.
1931 W. R. Mattoon Forest Trees Okla. 22 The shortleaf pine, also known as yellow or rosemary pine, is widely distributed throughout the eastern part of the state.
2004 L. S. Earley Looking for Longleaf x. 182 These gigantic trees [sc. loblolly pines] were marketed as ‘rosemary pine’ in the nineteenth century and coveted by shipmakers all over the world.
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1684 Ballard Minute 15 Feb. in R. T. Gunther Early Sci. in Oxf. (1925) IV. 38 Part of ye Rosemary stone (lately shown us by Dr. Plot).
1686 R. Plot Nat. Hist. Staffs. iv. 155 A sort of friable stone of a deep yellow colour found sparsim in lumps amongst the stiffest and fattest Marles at Eardley..used by the painters, and by the workmen all call'd by the general name of Rosemary-stones.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, November 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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