Well attestedNamed from the place
Jamestown weed
noun · first attested 17th century
Jimsonweed is Jamestown weed, worn down by centuries of saying it fast.
Datura stramonium, a poisonous nightshade with trumpet flowers and spiny fruit, now usually called jimsonweed.
Jamestown·Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
-15.9251°S -5.7179°W · Q30970
Record
- Relationship
- Named from the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 17th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Jamestown
- In English
Jamestown weed
Robert Beverley's 1705 history of Virginia describes soldiers sent to Jamestown in 1676 who boiled the plant as a pot herb and spent eleven days deranged before coming back to themselves. American speech clipped the name into jimson, hiding an entire colony inside a weed.
Also pinned to Jamestown