milk thistle

1. 1.

   any of several Old World coarse prickly-leaved shrubs and subshrubs having milky juice and yellow flowers; widely naturalized; often noxious weeds in cultivated soil

   Synonymssow thistle

   Broadershrub

   Narrowermilkweed

   Part ofSonchus
2. 2.

   tall Old World biennial thistle with large clasping white-blotched leaves and purple flower heads; naturalized in California and South America

   Synonymslady's thistleOur Lady's mild thistleholy thistleblessed thistleSilybum marianum

   Broaderherb

   Part ofSilybum

Questions about milk thistle

What does milk thistle mean?

milk thistle means "any of several Old World coarse prickly-leaved shrubs and subshrubs having milky juice and yellow flowers; widely naturalized; often noxious weeds in cultivated soil". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

What is another word for milk thistle?

Close synonyms include sow thistle, lady's thistle, Our Lady's mild thistle, holy thistle, blessed thistle. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is milk thistle a common word?

milk thistle is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.