1. woad - Noun
2. woad - Verb
An herbaceous cruciferous plant (Isatis tinctoria). It was formerly cultivated for the blue coloring matter derived from its leaves.
A blue dyestuff, or coloring matter, consisting of the powdered and fermented leaves of the Isatis tinctoria. It is now superseded by indigo, but is somewhat used with indigo as a ferment in dyeing.
Source: Webster's dictionaryAgriculture, industry and services Former factory building, now reused for services Anger 1, a big department store in centre Farming has a great tradition in Erfurt: the cultivation of woad made the city rich during the Middle Ages. Source: Internet
Eva Heller, Psychologie de la couleur - effets et symboliques (pg. 28) The efforts to block indigo were in vain; the quality of indigo blue was too high and the price too low for pastel made from woad to compete. Source: Internet
Robin J. H. Clark, Christopher J. Cooksey, Marcus A. M. Daniels, Robert Withnall: "Indigo, woad, and Tyrian Purple: important vat dyes from antiquity to the present", Endeavour 17/4 (1993), 191–199. Source: Internet
Blue dyes for clothing were made from woad in Europe and indigo in Asia and Africa. Source: Internet
In Europe woad containing the same dye was used for blue-dying. Source: Internet
Napoleon was forced to dye uniforms with woad, which had an inferior blue colour. Source: Internet