Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The mandrake.
- noun [capitalized] A genus of plants of the natural order Solanaceœ, the nightshade family, and tribe Atropeœ.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A genus of plants; the mandrake. See
mandrake , 1.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun
Mandrake ; often specifically mandrake root, traditionally used as anarcotic
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a genus of stemless herbs of the family Solanaceae
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Asked, in what place this mandrake was, and what she had heard of it? she said that she had heard that it grew under the tree of which mention has been made, but did not know the place; she said also that she had heard that above the mandragora was a hazel tree.
Jeanne d'Arc Oliphant, Mrs. 1896
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The mandragora is a wild plant, the like of which does not exist.
Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 4 Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle 1864
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Asked, in what place this mandrake was, and what she had heard of it? she said that she had heard that it grew under the tree of which mention has been made, but did not know the place; she said also that she had heard that above the mandragora was a hazel tree.
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Perhaps the most plausible suggestion that has been made as to the derivation of the word "mandragora" is Delâtre's claim [395] that it is compounded of the words _mandros_, "sleep," and _agora_, "object or substance," and that mandragora means "the sleep-producing substance".
The Evolution of the Dragon G. Elliot Smith
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In most books on Egyptian mythology the word (_d'd'_) for the substance put into the drink to colour it is translated "mandragora," from its resemblance to the Hebrew word
The Evolution of the Dragon G. Elliot Smith
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(variously transliterated _doudou_ or _didi_), which Brugsch [366] and his followers interpreted as "mandragora," is now believed to have another meaning.
The Evolution of the Dragon G. Elliot Smith
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Radix mandragora ebibitae, Annuli ex ungulis Asini, Stercus amatae sub cervical positum, illa nesciente, &c., quum odorem foeditatis sentit, amor solvitur.
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So have many besides: and poppy and mandragora will never medicine them to the sweet sleep they tasted yesterday.
The Virginians 2006
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Not poppy nor mandragora will ever medicine this bitter feud! ...
The Woodlanders 2006
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A confirmation of this appears from considering the things which induce sleep; they all, whether potable or edible, for instance poppy, mandragora, wine, darnel, produce a heaviness in the head; and persons borne down [by sleepiness] and nodding
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