hemlock

plural hemlocks

1. Any of the poisonous umbelliferous plants, of the genera
   1. countableuncountableConium, either Conium maculatum or Conium chaerophylloides.

      There were bunches of wild garlic to keep out evil spirits, foxgloves for healing spells and hemlock and vervain for darker magic.

      1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 41

      2 more examples

      Have a tree or two the witches particularly like, such as the alder, larch, cypress and hemlock; then, to counteract any possible evil effects, there must be a holly, yew, hazel, elder, mountain ash or juniper.

      1940, Rosetta E. Clarkson, Green Enchantments: The Magic Spell of Gardens, The Macmillan Company, page 273

      In the Tyrol, on May Day, it was the custom to smoke out witches by burning bundles of black and red spotted hemlock. In the eighteenth century hemlock was used for treating cancer, syphilis, and ulcers.

      1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 113

   2. countableuncountableCicuta (water hemlock).

      Synonyms: beaver poison, cowbane, musquash root, poison parsnip, spotted cowbane, water hemlock

2. countableuncountablePoison obtained from these Conium and Cicuta plants.First known use c. 1600
3. countableuncountableAny of several coniferous trees, of the genus Tsuga, that grow in North America; the wood of such trees.First known use 1670

   The wind blows and the hemlocks wave their feathery leading shoots. Such a graceful profile, so elegant a tree.

   2018, Richard Powers, The Overstory, Vintage (2019), page 380

1. A number of places in the United States:
   1. An unincorporated community in Taylor Township, Howard County, Indiana.
   2. A census-designated place in Richland Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.
   3. A census-designated place in the town of Livonia, Livingston County, New York.
   4. A village in Perry County, Ohio.
   5. An unincorporated community in Tillamook County, Oregon.
   6. A township in Columbia County, Pennsylvania.
   7. An unincorporated community in Floyd County, Virginia.
   8. Synonym of Stabler, Skamania County, Washington.

      Synonyms: Stabler, Skamania County, Washington

   9. An unincorporated community in Fayette County, West Virginia.
   10. An unincorporated community in Jackson County, West Virginia.
   11. A ghost town in the town of Warner, Clark County, Wisconsin.