WOODRUFF

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does woodruff mean? 

• WOODRUFF (noun)
  The noun WOODRUFF has 2 senses:

1. Old World fragrant stoloniferous perennial having small white flowers and narrow leaves used as flavoring and in sachets; widely cultivated as a ground cover; in some classifications placed in genus Asperula

2. any plant of the genus Asperula

  Familiarity information: WOODRUFF used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WOODRUFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Old World fragrant stoloniferous perennial having small white flowers and narrow leaves used as flavoring and in sachets; widely cultivated as a ground cover; in some classifications placed in genus Asperula

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Asperula odorata; fragrant bedstraw; Galium odoratum; sweet woodruff; waldmeister; woodruff

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

bedstraw (any of several plants of the genus Galium)

Meronyms (parts of "woodruff"):

sweet woodruff; waldmeister (fragrant dark green leaves used to flavor May wine)

Holonyms ("woodruff" is a substance of...):

May wine (a punch made of Moselle and sugar and sparkling water or champagne flavored with sweet woodruff)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any plant of the genus Asperula

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

subshrub; suffrutex (low-growing woody shrub or perennial with woody base)

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

Asperula tinctoria; dyer's woodruff (creeping European perennial having red or pinkish-white flowers and red roots sometimes used as a substitute for madder in dyeing)

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

Asperula; genus Asperula (woodruff)