Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Woad"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Woad \Woad\, n. [OE. wod, AS. w[=a]d; akin to D. weede, G. waid,
OHG. weit, Dan. vaid, veid, Sw. veide, L. vitrum.] [Written
also {wad}, and {wade}.]
1. (Bot.) An herbaceous cruciferous plant ({Isatis
tinctoria}). It was formerly cultivated for the blue
coloring matter derived from its leaves.
2. A blue dyestuff, or coloring matter, consisting of the
powdered and fermented leaves of the Isatis tinctoria. It
is now superseded by indigo, but is somewhat used with
indigo as a ferment in dyeing.
Their bodies . . . painted with woad in sundry
figures. --Milton.
{Wild woad} (Bot.), the weld ({Reseda luteola}). See {Weld}.
{Woad mill}, a mill grinding and preparing woad.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
woad
n 1: a blue dyestuff obtained from the woad plant
2: any of several herbs of the genus Isatis
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