Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various plants of the genus Helleborus of the buttercup family, native to Eurasia, most species of which are poisonous.
- noun Any of various plants of the genus Veratrum, especially V. viride of North America, having large leaves and greenish flowers and yielding toxic alkaloids used medicinally.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A plant of the genus Helleborus, of the natural order Ranunculaceæ, particularly H. niger, the black hellebore or Christmas rose, a native of southwestern Europe.
- noun A name of similar plants of other genera.
- noun The powdered root of American hellebore, used to destroy lice and caterpillars.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A genus of perennial herbs (Helleborus) of the Crowfoot family, mostly having powerfully cathartic and even poisonous qualities.
Helleborus niger is the European black hellebore, or Christmas rose, blossoming in winter or earliest spring.Helleborus officinalis was the officinal hellebore of the ancients. - noun (Bot.) Any plant of several species of the poisonous liliaceous genus Veratrum, especially
Veratrum album andVeratrum viride , both calledwhite hellebore .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A common
garden flowering plant , Ranunculaceae helleborus, having supposedmedicinal properties.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun perennial herbs of the lily family having thick toxic rhizomes
- noun any plant of the Eurasian genus Helleborus
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The inside of a hellebore is the most mysterious of flowers, freckles or no?
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The bloom time of the hellebore is a main attraction.
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The hellebore was a fantastic gift, hope it does well for you.
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My hellebore is a seedling from the big momma plant.
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Once a hellebore is a few years old, it just blooms more each year.
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They bought five cents 'worth of white hellebore, which is a powder, and sprinkled it on the ground in a circle about the stems of the young plants.
The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. Ellen Eddy Shaw
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Pluto said he might, if he could overcome Cerberus without weapons; and this he did, struggling with the dog, with no protection but the lion's skin, and dragging him up to the light, where the foam that fell from the jaws of one of the three mouths produced the plant called aconite, or hellebore, which is dark and poisonous.
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Cassian says, that the use of a lie, in order to be allowable, must be like the use of hellebore, which is itself poison, unless a man has a fatal disease on him.
Apologia pro Vita Sua John Henry Newman 1845
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The daughters of Prcetus, who supposed themselves to be cows, were cured by Melampus by means of hellebore, which is of a purging nature.
Medical inquiries and observations, upon the diseases of the mind Rush, Benjamin, 1746-1813 1812
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There were the vegetable poisons known on Earth, such as hellebore, setterwort, deadly nightshade, and the yew tree.
The Status Civilization Robert Sheckley 1966
bilby commented on the word hellebore
"He then banteringly advised them to import six shiploads of hellebore of the very best quality, and on its arrival distribute it among the citizens, at least seven pounds per head, but to the senators double that quantity, as they were bound to have an extra supply of sense."
- prologue to first edition of 'The Robbers' (Die Räuber), Friederich Schiller, 1781. Translator unknown.
December 17, 2007
sonofgroucho commented on the word hellebore
I love hellebores.
December 17, 2007
treeseed commented on the word hellebore
"Now the doctors had it all their own way; and to work they went in earnest, and they gave the poor professor divers and sundry medicines, as prescribed by the ancients and moderns, from Hippocrates to Feuchtersleben, as below, viz.:-
1. Hellebore, to wit -
Hellebore of Aeta.
Hellebore of Galatia.
Hellebore of Sicily.
And all other Hellebores, after the method of
the Helleborizing Helleboreists of the
Helleboric era. But that would not do.
Bumpsterhausen's blue follicles would not
stir an inch out of his encephalo digital
region.
_from Water Babies - Charles Kingsley, 1937
January 29, 2008
sonofgroucho commented on the word hellebore
Here's a hellebore:
February 1, 2008