Emily Dickinson Lexicon

AB-SIN'THI-UM, n. [Gr. αψινθιον; Per. اَفْسِنتِْنْ afsinthin, the same in Chaldaic. Budæus in his commentaries on Theophrast, supposes the word composed of α privative and ψινθος, delight, so named from its bitterness. But it may be an Oriental word.]

The common wormwood; a bitter plant, used as a tonic. A species of Artemisia.