VETCH, noun [Latin vicia. We see vetch if from the root of weigh, wag, wiggle, and signifies a little roller.] A plant of the leguminous kind, with papilionaceous flowers, of the genus Vicia. It is a common name of most species of the genus. The name is also applied, with various epithets, to many other leguminous plants of different genera; as the chichling vetch of the genus Lathyrus; the horseshoe vetch of the genus Hippocrepis; the milk vetch of the genus Astragalus, etc.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI