absinthe

What it means

1. countableuncountableThe herb absinthium Artemisia absinthium (grande wormwood); essence of wormwood.First known use 1350–1470
2. countablefigurativelyuncountableBitterness; sorrow.First known use 1350–1470
3. countableuncountableA distilled, highly alcoholic, anise-flavored liquor originally made from grande wormwood, anise, and other herbs.First known use mid 19ᵗʰ c.

   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.

   2010, Paul Owens, Paul Nathan, The Little Green Book of Absinthe, Penguin, →ISBN

   1 more example

   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.

   1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Plot That Failed”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 63

   Synonyms: green fairy

In a sentence

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.

1913 June–December, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “The Plot That Failed”, in The Return of Tarzan, New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, […], published March 1915, →OCLC, page 63

Where it comes from

1. Ancient Greekἀψίνθιον“wormwood”
2. Latinabsinthium
3. Middle Frenchabsinthe
4. Frenchabsinthe
5. Middle Englishabsinthe
6. Englishabsinthe

* (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.

First known use: 1350–1470