Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various chiefly African plants of the genus Aloe, having rosettes of succulent, often spiny-margined leaves and long stalks bearing yellow, orange, or red tubular flowers.
  • noun A laxative drug obtained from the processed juice of certain species of aloe.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of liliaceous plants, including trees, shrubs, and a few perennial herbs, with thick fleshy leaves, usually spinosely toothed and rosulate at the summit of the caudex. See aloe.
  • noun The common name of the plants of the genus Aloë.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete The wood of the agalloch.
  • noun (Bot.) A genus of succulent plants, some classed as trees, others as shrubs, but the greater number having the habit and appearance of evergreen herbaceous plants; from some of which are prepared articles for medicine and the arts. They are natives of warm countries.
  • noun (Med.), Plural in form but syntactically singular. The inspissated juice of several species of aloe, used as a purgative.
  • noun the agave. See Agave.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun in the plural The resins of the trees Aquilaria agallocha and Aquilaria malaccensis, known for their fragrant odour
  • noun A plant of the genus Aloe.
  • noun A strong, bitter drink made from the juice of such plants, used as a purgative.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun succulent plants having rosettes of leaves usually with fiber like hemp and spikes of showy flowers; found chiefly in Africa

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English aluwe, from Latin aloē, from Greek. Sense 3b, ultimately from Late Greek aloē, aloe, aloeswood, from confusion of Greek aloē, aloe with Greek agalokhon, aloeswood, influenced by Hebrew ’ahālôt, an aromatic, probably aloeswood.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English alwe, from Latin aloē, from Ancient Greek ἀλόη (aloē, "aloes"); reinforced in Middle English by Old French aloes.

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Examples

  • There are many so-called aloe vera preparations on the market that contain very little of this precious herb.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • There are many so-called aloe vera preparations on the market that contain very little of this precious herb.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • There are many so-called aloe vera preparations on the market that contain very little of this precious herb.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • There are many so-called aloe vera preparations on the market that contain very little of this precious herb.

    Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008

  • Five compounds were identified and assayed, namely aloe-emodin, chrysophanol, emodin, physcion and rhein.

    Chapter 7 1991

  • My second joyful memory centres round another thing of beauty -- a spiky agave (miscalled aloe) of monstrous dimensions which may be seen in the garden of a certain hill-side hotel.

    Alone Norman Douglas 1910

  • We cannot forget that, persecuted by conquer-ing Brahmans, and expelled from India, it found, at last, a shelter in Ceylon where it still flourishes like the legendary aloe, which is said to blossom once in its lifetime and then to die, as the root is killed by the exuberance of blossom, and the seeds cannot produce anything but weeds.

    From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan 1861

  • The alley up which we were moving was planted on each side with that remarkable tree or plant, for I know not which to call it, the giant aloe, which is called in Spanish, pita, and in Moorish, gursean.

    The Bible in Spain; or, the journeys, adventures, and imprisonments of an Englishman, in an attempt to circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula George Henry Borrow 1842

  • After all, the aloe was an ugly thing; but it answered my purpose – it made Mrs Luttridge, as I am credibly informed, absolutely weep with vexation.

    Belinda 1801

  • The alley up which we were moving was planted on each side with that remarkable tree or plant, for I know not which to call it, the giant aloe, which is called in Spanish, pita, and in Moorish, gursean.

    The Bible in Spain 1712

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