Hem″lock (?), n. [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic, hymlic.] 1. (Bot.) The name of several poisonous umbelliferous herbs having finely cut leaves and small white flowers, as the Cicuta maculata, bulbifera, and virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium.
☞ The potion of hemlock administered to Socrates is by some thought to have been a decoction of Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, by others, of Conium maculatum.
2. (Bot.) An evergreen tree common in North America (Abies, orTsuga, Canadensis); hemlock spruce.
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. Longfellow.
3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree.
Ground hemlock, orDwarf hemlock. See under Ground.