hemp

Etymology

From Middle English hemp, hempe, henpe, henoppe, henepe, henep, hanep, from Old English henep, from Proto-Germanic *hanapiz. Doublet of cannabis and canvas.

noun

1. A tall annual herb, Cannabis sativa, native to Asia.
2. Various products of this plant, including fibres and the drug cannabis.
3. (slang, historical) The gallows.
   A hundred and fifty years ago, Cotton Mather bewails the carnal attractions of the tavern and the training field, and tells of an old Indian, who imperfectly understood the English tongue but desperately mastered enough of it to express a desire for instant hemp rather than listen to any more ghostly consolations. 1864, James Russell Lowell, Fireside Travels