Meanings
- obsoleteuncountableDyer's madder, an herb (Rubia tinctorum) or a reddish dye made from the herb.
Rvbea maior is an herbe þat me clepuþ reed mader or warance
Rubea major is an herb that is called red madder or warence
[a. 1500, Goesta Brödin, editor, Agnus Castus, A Middle English Herbal, published 1950, page 2013 more examples
Rubea the moze hath greter leves tis of grete verttue, and is the herbe that warence or madder is made of, therefore it is called the dyers rubea.
1529, The Grete Herball, Peter Treueris, page 252The tariff of gate tolls specifies three sorts of articles for dyeing,—madder (warence); orchil or lichen, under the name of korc, […] woad (weide), together with the potash (cendre), used in scouring and dyeing.
1852, “Original Documents. Ancient Consuetudinary of the City of Winchester”, in The Archaeological Journal, page 86in Gerarde’s time, there were for many of them still older English names, a list of which he “gathered out of ancient written and printed copies, and from the mouths of plain and simple country people.” Thus ache is smallage; […] tooth-wort, shepherd’s purse; warence, madder; warmot, wormwood
1857, John Harland, editor, The House and Farm Accounts of the Shuttleworths of Gawthorpe Hall, in the County of Lancaster, at Smithils and Gawthorpe: From September 1582 to October 1621, page 694
Origin
- Anglo-Normanwarance
- Middle Englishwaraunce
- Englishwarence
Inherited from Middle English waraunce, from Anglo-Norman warance (modern French garance).
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
warence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warence
“warence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warence. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “warence,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/warence.
Source: warence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.