Definitions

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

  • noun A crystalline alkaloid, C15H21N3O2, extracted from the Calabar bean, used in the form of its sulfate as a miotic and in the form of its salicylate as a cholinergic agent.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun It is a powerful depressant and nerve-poison: used to counteract strychnine and atropin, also to contract the pupil. Its formula is C15H21O2N3. Also called eserine.
  • noun An alkaloid constituting the active principle of the Calabar bean.

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

  • noun (Chem.) An alkaloid found in the Calabar bean (the seed of Physostigma venenosum), and extracted as a white, tasteless, substance, amorphous or crystalline; -- formerly called eserine, with which it was regarded as identical.

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

  • noun chemistry A parasympathomimetic, a reversible cholinesterase inhibitor alkaloid of the Calabar bean, used to treat certain medical conditions.

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

  • noun used in treatment of Alzheimer's disease and glaucoma

Etymologies

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

[New Latin Phȳsostigma, genus name of the Calabar bean (Greek phūsa, bellows + stigma) + –ine.]

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