Hemlock \Hem"lock\, n. [OE. hemeluc, humloc, AS. hemlic, hymlic.]

1. (Bot.) The name of several poisonous umbelliferous herbs having finely cut leaves and small white flowers, as the Cicuta maculata, bulbifera, and virosa, and the Conium maculatum. See Conium.

Note: The potion of hemlock administered to Socrates is by some thought to have been a decoction of Cicuta virosa, or water hemlock, by others, of Conium maculatum.

2. (Bot.) An evergreen tree common in North America (Abies, or Tsuga, Canadensis); hemlock spruce.

The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. --Longfellow.

3. The wood or timber of the hemlock tree.

Ground hemlock, or Dwarf hemlock. See under Ground.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)