The Collaborative International Dictionary
Madder \Mad"der\ (m[a^]d"d[~e]r), n. [OE. mader, AS. m[ae]dere; akin to Icel. ma[eth]ra.] (Bot.) A plant of the genus Rubia ( Rubia tinctorum). The root is much used in dyeing red, and formerly was used in medicine. It is cultivated in France and Holland. See Rubiaceous.
Note: Madder is sometimes used in forming pigments, as lakes, etc., which receive their names from their colors, such as madder yellow.
Field madder, an annual European weed ( Sherardia arvensis) resembling madder.
Indian madder, the East Indian Rubia cordifolia, used in the East for dyeing; -- called also munjeet.
Wild madder, Rubia peregrina of Europe; also the Galium Mollugo, a kind of bedstraw.
WordNet
n. Eurasian herb with ample panicles of small white flowers; naturalized in North America [syn: white madder, white bedstraw, infant's-breath, false baby's breath, Galium mollugo]
Usage examples of "wild madder".
We have only one representative in Great Britain of the genus Rubia (name from Latin ruber, red), from which this large natural order takes its name, namely the Wild Madder (R.