MULLEIN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does mullein mean? 

• MULLEIN (noun)
  The noun MULLEIN has 1 sense:

1. any of various plants of the genus Verbascum having large usually woolly leaves and terminal spikes of yellow or white or purplish flowers

  Familiarity information: MULLEIN used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MULLEIN (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various plants of the genus Verbascum having large usually woolly leaves and terminal spikes of yellow or white or purplish flowers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

flannel leaf; mullein; velvet plant

Hypernyms ("mullein" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mullein"):

moth mullein; Verbascum blattaria (European mullein with smooth leaves and large yellow or purplish flowers; naturalized as a weed in North America)

Verbascum lychnitis; white mullein (densely hairy Eurasian herb with racemose white flowers; naturalized in North America)

purple mullein; Verbascum phoeniceum (Eurasian mullein with showy purple or pink flowers)

Aaron's rod; common mullein; flannel mullein; great mullein; torch; Verbascum thapsus; woolly mullein (tall-stalked very woolly mullein with densely packed yellow flowers; ancient Greeks and Romans dipped the stalks in tallow for funeral torches)

Holonyms ("mullein" is a member of...):

genus Verbascum; Verbascum (genus of coarse herbs and subshrubs mostly with woolly leaves)

 Context examples 

She caught endless colds sitting on damp grass to book 'a delicious bit', composed of a stone, a stump, one mushroom, and a broken mullein stalk, or 'a heavenly mass of clouds', that looked like a choice display of featherbeds when done.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)