woad

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a Eurasian plant, Isatis tinctoria, formerly cultivated as a source of blue dye

   Farmers once grew woad commercially for its dye-bearing leaves.

2. 2
   noun

   the blue dye prepared from the leaves of this plant

   The cloth was colored with woad before imported indigo became widely available.

3. 3
   verb

   to dye, paint, or mark with woad

   The performers woaded their skin for the historical pageant.

From Old English wad, cognate with Dutch wede and German Waid. The plant's fermented leaves yielded indigo dye, making woad an important European blue colorant before imported indigo displaced it.

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