Wort

Wort , noun

[Old English wort, wurt, Anglo-Saxon wyrt herb, root; akin to Old Saxon wurt, German wurz, Icelandic jurt, urt, Danish urt, Swedish ort, Gothic waúrts a root, Latin radix, Greek {not transcribed} a root, {not transcribed} a branch, young shoot, {not transcribed} a branch, and English root, n. Compare Licorice, Orchard, Radish, Root, n., Whortleberry, Wort an infusion of malt.]

(Botany) A plant of any kind.

This word is now chiefly used in combination, as in colewort, figwort, St. John's-wort, woundwort, etc.

Cabbages.

Wort , noun

[Old English worte, wurte, Anglo-Saxon wyrte; akin to OD. wort, German wurze, bierwurze, Icelandic virtr, Swedish vort. See Wort an herb.]

An infusion of malt which is unfermented, or is in the act of fermentation; the sweet infusion of malt, which ferments and forms beer; hence, any similar liquid in a state of incipient fermentation.

Wort consists essentially of a dilute solution of sugar, which by fermentation produces alcohol and carbon dioxide.