Dictionary

herbcraft en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈ(h)ɝbˌkɹæft/ (General-American)
• /ˈhɜːbˌkɹɑːft/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From herb + -craft.

Meanings

1. (uncountable, usually) The practice, art, or skill of using herbs, especially for medicinal or magical purposes.
   • (1.) Botany, superseding the ancient Herbcraft, is the name now given to the science which relates to all those inferior ranks of the organic creation called plants, or vegetables. 1835, Gilbert T[homas] Burnett, “Introduction”, in Outlines of Botany, […], London: Henry Renshaw, page 15:
   • Near-synonyms: herbalism, herblore
   • The first stage was simple, for one with knowledge of herbcraft, but had to be done with meticulous care. 1982 February 14, Jayge Carr, “Reunion”, in Susan M. Schwartz, editor, Hecate's Cauldron, United States: DAW Books, →ISBN, page 227:
   • For he was a cunning man in herbcraft, was Father Peter, and he knew well the nature of each herb and flower, and their several virtues curative, sedative, stimulative—said virtues very possibly all being quite the reverse: […] 1858, M[artin] F[arquhar] Tupper, “Dame Margery's Discovery” (chapter X), in Stephan Langton; or, The Days of King John, Guildford: Frank Lasham, page 36:
   • ‘I first met you when you were about eight years old,’ Nevyn said. ‘I doubt if you remember. And then once when you were about sixteen, you were very ill of a fever, and I cured you — just with herbcraft, though, not dweomer.’ 1990, Katherine Karr, Dragonspell: The Southern Sea, Grafton Books, →ISBN, page 301:
   • “Yes,” Sunny confided shyly. “It helps me when I work on them to give them a story. Griselda, for instance, escaped the Salem witch trials and lived by herself in a cranberry bog for two hundred years—see her cranberry wreath?—before coming back to civilization to share her herbcraft with select acolytes. I based her on one of my teachers at Bailey.” 2017, Carol Goodman, chapter 10, in The Widow's House, William Morrow and Company, →ISBN, page 114:

Forms

Synonyms

herbalism · herblore