The Collaborative International Dictionary
Houseleek \House"leek`\, n. [House + leek.] (Bot.) A succulent plant of the genus Sempervivum ( Sempervivum tectorum), originally a native of subalpine Europe, but now found very generally on old walls and roofs. It is very tenacious of life under drought and heat; -- called also ayegreen.
Wiktionary
n. Any of several succulent plants, of the genus ''Sempervivum'', having a rosette of fleshy leaves
Usage examples of "houseleek".
His other herbs, as revealed by a colleague, Count Manzetti, are the Knotgrass, the Water Betony, the Cabbage, the Stonecrop, the Houseleek, the Feverfew, and the Watercress.
The word Leek is from the Anglo-Saxon leac, a plant, so that Houseleek means literally the House Plant.
The Houseleek was dedicated of old to Jupiter or Thor, and bore also the names of Jupiter's Eye, Thor's Beard, Jupiter's Beard, Barba Jovis (in France, Joubarbe des toits), from its massive clusters of flowers, which were supposed to resemble the beard of Jupiter.
Soft brown mosses, like faded velveteen, formed cushions upon the stone tiling, and tufts of the houseleek or sengreen sprouted from the eaves of the low surrounding buildings.