Definition of "wort"

[T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed with barly brede and cakes of whete, and that the residue of their diete shulde be salte, olyues, chese, and likes, and more ouer wortes that the feldes do brynge furthe, for their potage.

1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Sobrietie in Diete”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published , 3rd book, page 264

[H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]

1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Pouerty and Want Causes of Melancholy”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 6, page 207

It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]

1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXV Sermons Preached at Golden Grove: Being for the Winter Half-year, […].] Sermon XVI. The House of Feasting: Or The Epicures Measures. Part II.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, page 204

Two saints are credited with giving St. John's wort its name. One was St. John of Jerusalem, who used the wort (plant) during the crusades to heal his knights' battlefield wounds, and the other was John the Baptist.

1999 November, Victoria Zak, “A Modern Herbal Tea Garden”, in 20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature’s Healing Herbs, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing, page 209

VVhy (ſay they in ſcorne and contempt of povertie) here is the ſtem of a vvoort ſo vvell grovvne, here is a cabbage ſo thriven and fed, that a poore mans boord vvill not hold it.

1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XIX.] The Manner of Trimming and Ordering Gardens: The Sorting of All Those Things that Grow out of the Earth, into Their Due Places, besides Corne and Plants Bearing Fruit.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, published 1635, page 11

I am poore / And may expect a vvorſe; yet digging, pruning, / Mending of broken vvayes, carrying of vvater, / Planting of VVorts, and Onyons, any thing / That's honeſt, and a mans, Ile rather chooſe, […]

1610–1614, John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Valentinian”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, Act III, scene ii, page 14, column 2

Though ne'er so mean the viands be, / They will content my Prew and me: / Or pea or bean, or wort or beet, / Whatever comes, content makes sweet.The spelling has been modernized.

1648, Robert Herrick, “[Moral and Pathetic.] His Content in the Country.”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […]; republished as Henry G. Clarke, editor, Hesperides, or Works both Human and Divine, volume II, London: H. G. Clarke and Co., […], 1844, page 233

Nay then tvvo treyes, an if you grovv ſo nice, / Methegline, VVort, and Malmſey; […]

c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene ii], page 138, column 2

VVhen they make drink vvith them, they take 10 or 12 ripe Plantains and maſh them vvell in a Trough: then they put tvvo gallons of VVater among them; and this in tvvo hours time vvill ferment and froth like VVort: In four hours it is fit to drink; and then they bottle it and drink it as they have occaſion: […]

1697, William Dampier, chapter XI, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], page 314

Making the wort with nothing but barley malt and hot water is the standard method in Germany, and in many U.S. microbreweries.

2004, Harold McGee, “Wine, Beer, and Distilled Spirits”, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, revised edition, New York, N.Y., London: Scribner, page 747

They discovered what are called "wild" or "spontaneously fermented" beers, in which fermentation is induced not by pitching commercially produced yeast into an enclosed tank, but by letting the wild yeasts floating in the air interact with the wort to turn it into alcohol.

2017, Jon C. Stott, “The Birds and the Yeasts in Tillamook”, in Beer 101 North: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of the Washington and Oregon Coasts, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, page 110