The Latin word for ‘thistle,’ formerly sometimes used in Eng. as the name of the Carduus benedictus or Blessed Thistle; esp. attrib., as in † carduus posset, † water.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. xxxvi. (1495), 625. Carduus ben thystels grete and smale.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iv. 73. Get you some of this distill’d carduus benedictus and lay it to your heart.
a. 1613. Overbury, A Wife (1638), 204. He utters a most abominable deale of Carduus water.
1647. Ashmole, Diary (1774), 305. Taking a carduus posset at night, and sweating upon it.
1789. W. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 677. Infusion of Carduus. Infuse an ounce of the dried leaves of carduus benedictus.
