Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tree (Strychnos nux-vomica) native to South and Southeast Asia, having poisonous seeds that are a source of the alkaloids strychnine and brucine.
- noun The seeds of this tree or a preparation or extract made from them.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The seed of Strychnos Nux-vomica (which see, under
Strychnos ). - noun The tree producing the above fruit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- The seed of
Strychnos Nuxvomica , a tree which abounds on the Malabar and Coromandel coasts of the East Indies. From this seed the deadly poisons known asstrychnine andbrucine are obtained. The seeds are sometimes calledQuaker buttons .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
strychnine tree, Strychnos nux-vomica, anevergreen tree found in southeastern Asia. - noun The fruit of Strychnos nux-vomica, which contains
strychnine andbrucine . - noun A preparation made from the fruit of Strychnos nux-vomica, traditionally used as a
stimulant .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a medicine made from the seeds of an Asiatic tree; contains strychnine and brucine; formerly used as a stimulant
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Medieval Latin : Latin nux, nut + Medieval Latin vomica, feminine of vomicus, emetic (from Latin vomere, to vomit; see wemə- in Indo-European roots).]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Latin nux ("nut") and vomica ("vomiting").
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