A plant or substance poisonous or harmful to calves; historically, any plant known to sicken or kill young cattle.
Compound word from 'calf' and 'kill.' This likely refers to specific poisonous plants that farmers needed to watch for in pastures, created by descriptive folk terminology.
Farmers created these brutal, practical names—'calfkill' told you immediately and urgently that a plant was dangerous to your livestock, probably saving animals' lives!
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