Dictionary Definition

hemlock

1 poisonous drug derived from an Eurasian plant of the genus Conium; "Socrates refused to flee and died by drinking hemlock"

2 large branching biennial herb native to Eurasia and Africa and adventive in North America having large fernlike leaves and white flowers; usually found in damp habitats; all parts extremely poisonous [syn: poison hemlock, poison parsley, California fern, Nebraska fern, winter fern, Conium maculatum]

3 soft coarse splintery wood of a hemlock tree especially the western hemlock

4 an evergreen tree [syn: hemlock tree]

User Contributed Dictionary

Any of several coniferous trees, of the genus Tsuga, that grow in North America; the wood of such trees
Any of several poisonous umbelliferous plants, of the genera Conium and Cicuta; the poison obtained from these plants

tree

poisonous plant

The word hemlock may refer to:

Conium, or more specifically, Conium maculatum, a common European herb that contains the alkaloid coniine and was probably the state poison of Ancient Greece, and the purported poison used in the execution of Socrates.

Several other poisonous plants in the family Apiaceae (formerly Umbelliferae) are sometimes called hemlock:
- Water Hemlock or cowbane
- Hemlock Water Dropwort (Oenanthe crocota) is a species in the related genus Oenanthe

Tsuga, a genus of conifers originally named "hemlocks" due to a perceived similarity in the scent of the crushed foliage to that of Conium.

Hemlock Society, a group advocating assisted suicide
Hemlock (company), a chemicals manufacturer specializing in silicon products
Hemlock, a variant of the Emacs text editor for Unix
Hemlock Records, a record label based out of Chicago, Illinois
Hemlock is a heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada
Hemlock is a 1990s punk band from San Diego, California
Hemlock was also the name of a black metal project by bass player Dan Lilker
Sherlock Hemlock, the name of a Muppet detective
Hemlock (play), an original play by playwright Bob Jude Ferrante
Hemlock's Diary is a political, economic and social blog written in Hong Kong
Hemlock, an Iranian movie also released as Shokaran and starring Hediyeh Tehrani

hemlock in German: Schierling

hemlock in French: Ciguë

hemlock in Polish: Cykuta

hemlock in Chinese: 毒堇

beheading, belladonna, burning, capital punishment, castor-oil plant, crucifixion, deadly nightshade, death camas, decapitation, decollation, defenestration, electrocution, ergot, execution, foxglove, fusillade, garrote, gassing, hanging, henbane, horsetail, jimsonweed, judicial murder, lapidation, mayapple, mescal bean, monkshood, necktie party, poison ivy, poison parsley, poison sumac, poisoning, pokeweed, shooting, stoning, strangling, strangulation, the ax, the block, the chair, the gallows, the gas chamber, the guillotine, the hot seat, the rope