absinthe

Definition

The herb absinthium Artemisia absinthium (grande wormwood); essence of wormwood.

Etymology

* (wormwood; figuratively bitterness, sorrow): From Middle English absinthe. * (liquor): From Modern French absinthe. Both from Middle French absinthe, from Latin absinthium, from Ancient Greek ἀψίνθιον (apsínthion, “wormwood”). Doublet of absinthium.

Example Sentences

• "Let us go out and drink to the very good health of Monsieur Tarzan in some of old Plancon’s unparalleled absinth; not forgetting that the Count de Coude is one of the best swordsmen in Paris, and by far the best shot in all France."
• "Absinthe ads like to trade on artists like Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec, as if the history of the green fairy began in the Pigalle neighborhood of 1870s Paris, but wormwood-infused drinks have been around for thousands of years."