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sourwood switch

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sourwood switch noun A stem or limb from a sourwood tree believed to have curative power, especially over childhood respiratory diseases.

1939 Hall Coll (Chestnut Branch NC) I have cured it [=the croup]. Get you a sourwood switch and then have it a-standing up at the door, and measure your stick, and if the young one grows, why, hit’ll cure it. 1956 Hall Coll (Newport TN) She'd go get a sourwood switch she'd call it, and she would measure her children to cure the croup and the tizik.

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