comfrey
/ˈkʌmfri
/noun (plural comfreys)
A Eurasian plant of the borage family, which has large hairy leaves and clusters of purplish or white bell-shaped flowers.
- Genus Symphytum, family Boraginaceae: several species, in particular the common comfrey (S. officinale), which is used in herbal medicine (see boneset).
- Himalayan balsam crowds out native plants such as comfrey and willow herb, which are both important food sources for insects.
- These products often include comfrey, chickweed, echinacea, calendula, goldenseal, plantain, essential oils, and a host of other herbs in a base of olive oil and beeswax.
Origin
Middle English: from Anglo-Norman French cumfirie, based on Latin conferva, from confervere 'heal' (literally 'boil together', referring to the plant's medicinal use).
Rhymes
- dimerise
- dimerization
- dimerize
- dimerous
- dime store
- dimeter
- dimethoate
- dimethyl sulfoxide
- dimethyl sulphoxide
- dimetric
- dimetrodon
- dimidiate
- dimidiation
- diminish
- diminishable
- diminished
- diminished responsibility
- diminished seventh
- diminished seventh chord
- diminuendo
- diminution
- diminutive
- diminutively
- diminutiveness
- dimissory