woad

1. (countable) The plant Isatis tinctoria.Examples: "Woad is one of those plants which yield the deep blue colouring matter so greatly valued in the arts — Indigo."; "Woad was then placed on the regular shopping list of alternative crops."; "The cultivation of woad had taken hold in southern England during the early 1580s, but this dispute provides the earliest evidence of its cultivation in the fields around Tewkesbury."Synonyms: glastum, Isatis tinctoriacountableusually

2. (countable and uncountable) The blue vat dye made from the leaves of the plant through partial drying and fermentation.Examples: "To prevent this, it was enacted, that no wines of Gaſcony and Guienne, or woads of Tholouſe, should be imported into England, except in ships belonging to the King, or some of his ſubjects; and that all ſuch wines and woads imported in foreign bottoms ſhould be forfeited."; "But in the middle of the sixteenth century indigo was introduced from the East Indies: and in the seventeenth century its use became extended, and supplanted that of woad."; "Huge quanitities of alum and woad were disembarked each year at Southampton."Synonyms: indigo, indigotincountableuncountableusually