Definition of "monkshood" [monks•hood]

• See aconite. (noun)
• A slender, erect, poisonous perennial herb (Aconitum napellus) native to northern Europe, having violet flowers and whose dried leaves and roots yield aconite. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Water slipped by and beneath it, enough to send a trickle on down, but in the shade, a large, still pool had formed, and by its side long stalks of monkshood bent under the weight of their blue flowers."
• "A few flowers remained in bloom, some pale lavender phlox that contrasted nicely against the brooding dark monkshood, and some roses, deep red climbers, their fragrance still heady this late in the season."
• "One day, I hope we'll sit over a drink (tea, wine, beer, coffee--I'm not fussy) and discuss family trees and troop movements and what to call things like monkshood before there were monks (well, that one's relatively easy: wolfsbane) and so on."