Dictionary

ragweed en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈɹæɡˌwid/ (General-American)

Etymology

Etymology tree English ragwort Proto-West Germanic *weud Old English wēod Middle English weed English weed blend English ragweed Alteration of earlier ragwort; presumably equivalent to ragged + weed, with "rag" referring to the tattered appearance of the plant's leaves. Compare Middle English ragwed (“butcher's broom”), of uncertain linguistic relationship.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A plant of the genus Ambrosia, native to North America and a common invasive species elsewhere, particularly noted for producing pollen that triggers hay fever.
   • Fig. 1.—Spiculated pollens of ragweeds (ambrosias) low in protein. […] In the cocklebur (Xanthium americanum) and the rough wild elder (Iva ciliata), the spicules are shorter, being 0.7 and 0.5 microns, and the reaction is proportionately less active than with the ragweeds (ambrosias). […] While the grass pollens have so light a coat that they are frequently crushed in the ordinary process of mounting, the ragweed (ambrosias) pollen grains resist pressure between two glass slides carried to the point of crushing the glass. 1916 September 16, W[illiam] Scheppegrell, “Direct and Indirect Hay-Fever: Preliminary Report of the Research Department of the American Hay-Fever-Prevention Association on the Etiology of Hay-Fever”, in George H[enry] Simmons, editor, The Journal of the American Medical Association, volume LXVII, number 12, Chicago, Ill.: American Medical Association, pages 862–863:
   • RAGWEED (Jeffogia Fingerolia) : The hayfever king, ragweed, brings tears to the eyes of grown men. 2009 January 29, “The Leafs' Garden of Weedin'”, in Toronto Star:
2. (Ireland, Scotland, countable, uncountable) Synonym of ragwort.
   • The fields, being rough and stony, and wholly unfit for the plough, were mostly devoted to the pasturing of sheep and cattle; […] and in many of the inclosures, ragweeds and rushes usurped supremacy over the scanty herbage : but these were not my property. 1848, Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, page 16:
3. (countable, uncountable) A summer cypress, mock cypress (Bassia scoparia).

Forms

Deriveds

coastal ragweed · Peruvian ragweed · ragweed gall mite · lanceleaf ragweed · lacy ragweed · ragweed flower moth · flatspine burr ragweed · giant ragweed · common ragweed fruit fly · silver burr ragweed · Tucson bur ragweed · weakleaf bur ragweed · annual ragweed · perennial ragweed · common ragweed · dwarf bur ragweed · ragweed plume moth · ragweed borer moth · San Diego ragweed · ragweed leaf beetle · minute ragweed borer · Cuman ragweed · western ragweed · ragweed weevil · great ragweed

Relateds

ragwort

Synonyms

ragwort · ambrosia

Translations (19)

fr herbe à poux (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · de Beifußblättriges Traubenkraut (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · fi tuoksukki (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · pl ambrozja (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · ga eimhear sléibhe (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · ja 豚草 (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · de Ambrosie (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · ru амбро́зия (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · bg полски кръстовник (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · de Beifußblättrige Ambrosie (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · hu parlagfű (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · ca ambròsia (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · cy bratlys (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · tr zaylan (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · fr ambroisie (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · de Traubenkraut (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · nl ambrosia (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · cs ambrózie (plant of the genus Ambrosia) · eo ambrozio (plant of the genus Ambrosia)