Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A European perennial herb (Alkanna tinctoria) having cymes of blue flowers and red roots.
- n. The root of this plant or the red dye extracted from the root.
- n. Any of various hairy plants of the Eurasian genus Anchusa, having blue or violet flowers grouped on elongated cymes.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The root of a boraginaceous herb, Alkanna (Anchusa) tinctoria, yielding a red dye, for which the plant is cultivated in central and southern Europe. It is used in dyeing, staining wood, coloring adulterated wines, and in pharmacy to give a red color to salves, etc. It produces brilliant violet and gray colors with alum and iron mordants on linen, cotton, and silk, but not on wool.
- n. The plant which yields the dye, Alkanna tinctoria. Also called orcanet and Spanish bugloss.
- n. A name of similar plants of other genera. The common alkanet of England is Anchusa officinalis; the evergreen alkanet, A. sempervirens; the bastard alkanet, Lithospermum arvense, and in America L. canescens.
Wiktionary
- n. Alkanna tinctoria, a plant whose root is used as a dye.
- n. The dyeing matter extracted from the plant, giving a deep red colour.
- n. A boraginaceous herb (Alkanna tinctoria) yielding a dye; orchanet.
- n. The similar plant Anchusa officinalis; bugloss.
- n. The American puccoon.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Chem.) A dyeing matter extracted from the roots of Alkanna tinctoria, which gives a fine deep red color.
- n. A boraginaceous herb (Alkanna tinctoria) yielding the dye; orchanet.
- n. The similar plant Anchusa officinalis; bugloss; also, the American puccoon.
WordNet 3.0
- n. perennial or biennial herb cultivated for its delicate usually blue flowers
Etymologies
- Diminutive of Spanish alcana, alhea. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Old Spanish alcaneta, diminutive of alcana, henna, from Medieval Latin alchanna, from Arabic al-ḥinnā', the henna : al-, the + ḥinnā', henna; see henna. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It is prepared by precipitating an alcoholic extract of the root of the _Anchusa tinctoria_, commonly known as alkanet, a plant growing in the Levant, and some other warm countries.”
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists
“Lit. “enamelled or painted with anchusa or alkanet,” a plant, the wild bugloss, whose root yields a red dye.”
“Another powder for the same ulcers: - The black chamaeleon, when prepared with the juice of the fig. It is to be prepared roasted, and alkanet mixed with it.”
“A wedding," said Cadfael seriously, stacking away jars of salves and bottles of lotion made from alkanet, anemone, mint, figwort, and the grains of oats and barley, most of them herbs of Venus and the moon, "a wedding is the crux of two lives, and therefore no mean matter.”
“She put divers herbs in it, herbs yielding coloured juices such as safflower and alkanet, and soapwort and fleawort to give consistency or 'body' to the lye; she put in alum and blue vitriol (or sulphate of copper), and she put in blood.”
“= — One of the most powerful stimulants for the growth of the hair is the following: Take a quarter of an ounce of the chippings of alkanet root, tie in a scrap of coarse muslin, and suspend it in a jar containing eight ounces of sweet oil for a week, covering it from the dust.”
The Ladies Book of Useful Information Compiled from many sources
“= — Lard, twenty-six ounces; white wax, two ounces; nitre and alum in fine powder, of each one-half ounce; alkanet to color.”
The Ladies Book of Useful Information Compiled from many sources
“-- Castor oil, alcohol, each 1 pint; tinct. cantharides, 1 ounce; oil bergamot, 1/2 ounce; alkanet coloring, to color as wished.”
The Handy Cyclopedia of Things Worth Knowing A Manual of Ready Reference
“The first group embraces logwood, orchil, alkanet, and aniline violets, including under the latter term”
“Hydrochloric acid, whether dilute or concentrated, is without action on alkanet violet.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘alkanet’.
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Rare Words - A
Not just rare words, but thousands of RARE WORDS WITH DEFINITIONS.
If you want to see the definitions, too, go to
http://phrontistery.i...aba, abacinate, abactor, abaculus, abaft, abampere, abapical, abarticular, abasement, abasia, abask, abatis and 1214 more...
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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Old Pharmacy, etc.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
This is not an Aubrey/Maturin list.
There. I think I've convinced myself.
(Of course...asafetida, Cinchona, Peruvian bark, Jesuit's bark, mithridate, aqua, bark, lard, electuary, gentian, diatessaron, myrrh and 110 more...
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phrontistery - a
from phrontistery.info
axilla, avalement, argil, argent, argand, arete, aretaics, areometer, areology, arenoid, arenaceous, arefy and 1214 more...
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1906 Railway Cipher Code
Terms from the Standard Cipher Code of the American Railway Association, 1906. The terms were shorthand for common phrases used in telegraphic communications between station agents and Railway Asso...
abetting, abdominal, abiology, ablative, abnormal, abominate, aboveboard, abrasive, absinth, abstinent, accursed, acetate and 212 more...
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Dyes & Pigments
gamboge, anil, catechu, cinnabar, vermilion, ponceau, cochineal, kermes, lac, eosin, azure, indigo and 134 more...
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Clearinghouse
For stuff to simply reside.
calcar, pinion, espadrille, antipodes, peregrine, cormorant, tanager, vireo, farrago, undervest, passerine, oscine and 881 more...
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two
more
et cetera, id est, contraption, aphid, stat, magnum opus, foundry, ◬, klaxon, virago, sleuth, hoosegow and 88 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for alkanet.
hernesheir US Railway Association, Standard Cipher Code, 1906: telegraphers' shorthand for "Why did you not agree?" Jan 19, 2013