Forms: 1 finuȝl, finul(e, fenol, finol, 3, 5 fenyl(le, (4 fynel, 5, 7 fenil, 6 foenall), 4–7 fenel(l(e, 6–7 fennell, 7– fennel. See also FINKLE. [OE. finugl, finule wk. fem., fenol, finul masc., ad. popular L. fēnuclum, fēnoclum (substituted for class. L. fæniculum, dim. of fænum hay); from the same form come OF. fenoil (mod. F. fenouil), Pr. fenolh, It. finocchio, Sp. hinojo.]
1. A fragrant perennial umbellifer (Fæniculum vulgare) having yellow flowers, cultivated chiefly for its use in sauces eaten with salmon, etc.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss., 451. Finiculus, finuȝl.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 322. Feniculum, fenol.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xiii. 44.
| The lilie is lossom to seo, | |
| the fenyl ant the fille. |
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 129.
| And eke his herbe in speciall | |
| The vertuous fenel it is. |
1486. Bk. St. Albans, B iv b. Wassh the flesh … in ye Juce of fenell.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1539), 41 a. Wyne prepared with pure hony clarified, wherin the rootes of persely or fenel be stieped, specially if they suspect any thing of the stone, or goute.
1538. Turner, Libellus, Foenell, Feniculum.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. v. 180. There’s Fennell for you.
1667. Milton, P. L., IX. 579.
| When from the boughes a savorie odour blow’n, | |
| Grateful to appetite, more pleas’d my sense | |
| Than smell of sweetest Fenel. |
1733. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 260. Fennel, which contains a subtil Spice, balsamick, warm, and stimulating.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 234. With aspen boughs, and flowers and fennel gay.
1796. Mrs. Glasse, Cookery, xviii. 291. When you send them [Mackerels] to the table, garnish with fennel and parsley, and put some of the liquor under them.
1841–6. Longf., The Goblet of Life, v.
| Above the lowly plants it towers, | |
| The fennel, with its yellow flowers. |
1879. Browning, Pheidippides, 82.
| This herbage I bear | |
| —Fennel, whatever it bode. |
b. With qualifying words indicating different species; esp. Indian Fennel, Fæniculum Panmorium, an annual variety of F. vulgare employed in India in curries and for medicinal purposes. Sweet Fennel, Fæniculum dulce or officinale, grown in kitchen-gardens for the sake of its leaves.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xvi. (1813), 267. Sweet fennel is an annual, cultivated for its seeds in medicine.
1811. A. T. Thomson, Lond. Disp. (1818), 34. There are three varieties of fennel; the root of the first of which, the common fennel, and the seed of the second, the sweet fennel, are officinal.
2. Popularly applied to plants resembling the preceding, as Dog or Dog’s Fennel, Anthemis Cotula; Hog’s Fennel, Peucedanum officinale; Horse Fennel, Seseli Hippomarathrum; Sea Fennel, Crithmum maritimum; Sow Fennel = Hog’s F.; Water Fennel, Callitriche verna.
1523. Fitzherbert, The Boke of Husbandry, § 20. Doggefenell and manthes is bothe one, and in the commynge vp is lyke fenell and beareth many white floures, with a yelowe sede.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 73/1. The dog Fennel, hath small deep dark leaves, bearing at the tops of the branches divers broad spread white flowers, in some single, others very double.
1712. trans. Pomet’s Hist. Drugs, I. 7. Another kind of Fennel … bears the Name of Sea-Fennel.
1863. Prior, Plant-n. (1879), 77. Dog’s Fennel.
b. Fennel-flower, a herb of the genus Nigella. Also with distinguishing epithets, as Common, Spanish, Small, Wild Fennel-flower.
1863. Prior, Plant-n. (1879), 77. Fennel-Flower, from its fennel-like finely divided leaves.
1868. Hereman, Paxton’s Bot. Dict., 392/2. The species of Fennel-flower are curious and ornamental.
c. Fennel-giant (Ferula communis), a plant of the genus Ferula; also with distinguishing epithets, as Broad-leaved, Furrowed, Knotted, etc. = Giant-fennel.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. lxxxix. 269. The seconde kinde is called … wilde Fenell, and great Fenell: and of some Fenell Giant.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. (1641), 27/2. Th’ Hearb Sagapen [side note Fenelgyant] serves the slowe Asse for meat.
1654. Gataker, Disc. Apol., 70. A Ferula, or Fennel-giant, as some term it.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxii. 237. It [Ferula] is so lofty and large a plant as to have acquired the name of Fennel-giant.
1848. in Craig.
3. As an emblem of flattery.
1584. Lyly, Sappho, II. iv. Fancy is a worme, that feedeth first upon fenell.
1592. Greene, Upst. Courtier (1871), 2. Womans weeds, fennel I mean for flatterers.
1634. Phyala Lachrymarum (Nares), Nor fennell-finkle bring for flattery.
4. attrib. and Comb., as fennel-plant, -root, -seed, -stalk; fennel-like, -rubbed adjs.; also † fennel apple, the name of a variety of apple; fennel oil, ‘the oil of common fennel containing anethol and a terpene’ (Watts); fennel water, a spirituous liquor prepared from fennel seed, = FENOUILLETTE.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 225. Apples…. *Fennel Apple.
1721. in Bailey.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 65.
| Came eke, with a rural pride | |
| Of head, Silvanus, blooming *fennel-plants | |
| And giant lilies tossing to and fro. |
1642. Milton, An Apology against Smectymnuus (1851), 288. It was this equall temper of his affections that gave him to see clearer then any *fenell rub’d Serpent.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 28. *Finol sæd … gnid to duste.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 156.
| I haue peper and piane · and a pound of garlek, | |
| A Ferþing-worþ of Fenel-seed · for þis Fastyng dayes. |
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 528. Take Earth made with Marioram, or Origanum, or Wilde-Thyme, bruised, or stamped, and set in it Fennell-Seed, &c.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. 75. You can by no Culture or Art extend a *Fennel-Stalk to the Stature and Bigness of an Oak.
1757. A. Cooper, Distiller, II. v. (1760), 126. The Simple Waters now commonly made, are … Cinamon-water, *Fennel-water, [etc.].
1879. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), IX. 76/1. The fruits … are used for the preparation of oil of fennel and fennel water.
