balsam

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of several aromatic resins, such as balsam of Peru and balsam of Tolu, that contain considerable amounts of benzoic acid, cinnamic acid, or both, or their esters.
2. n. Any of several other fragrant plant resins, such as Canada balsam.
3. n. A similar substance, especially a fragrant ointment used as medication; a balm.
4. n. Any of various trees, especially the balsam fir, yielding an aromatic resinous substance.
5. n. See jewelweed.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. An oily, aromatic, resinous substance, exuding spontaneously from trees of the genus Balsamodendron; hence, by extension, any aromatic or odoriferous exudation from trees or shrubs, whether spontaneous or after incision; balm. A great variety of substances pass under this name; but in chemistry the term is confined to vegetable juices, whether they remain liquid or spontaneously become solid, which consist of resins mixed with gums or volatile oils, the resins being produced from the oils by oxidation. A balsam is thus intermediate between a volatile oil and a resin. It is soluble in alcohol and ether, and capable of yielding benzoic acid. The balsams are either liquid or solid: of the former are the balm of Gilead and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu (see below); of the latter, benzoin, dragon's blond, and storax. The balsam used in the Roman Catholic Church in the confection of chrism is, by the rubrics, that of Syria or Mecca; but, from difficulty in obtaining this, concessions have been made by the popes for the use of the balsams of Brazil, Tolu, Peru, etc.
2. n. An aromatic preparation used for embalming the dead.
3. n. Any aromatic fragrant ointment, whether for ceremonial or for medicinal use, as for healing wounds or soothing pain.
4. n. Figuratively, any healing or soothing agent or agency.
5. n. In alchemy, a healthful preservative essence, of oily penetrative nature, conceived by Paracelsus to exist in all organic bodies.
6. n. A tree yielding an aromatic, oily resin. In the United States the name is often applied generally to the firs (species of Abies), and sometimes ignorantly to the spruces also. See balsam-tree.
7. n. The Impatiens balsamina, a familiar flowering annual, of Eastern origin, cultivated in many varieties, often called garden-balsam, and in the United States lady's-slipper; also, the native European species, I. Noli-me-tangere, and the American I. fulva. See Impatiens and jewel-weed.
8. n. In medical prescriptions abbreviated to bals.
9. To apply balsam or balm to; anoint with balm or balsam.
10. To embalm.

Wiktionary

1. n. A sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from various plants.
2. n. A plant or tree yielding such substance.
3. n. A soothing ointment.
4. n. figuratively Something soothing.
5. n. A flowering plant of the genus Impatiens.
6. n. A balsam fir.
7. n. Canada balsam, a turpentine obtained from the resin of balsam fir.
8. v. transitive To treat or anoint with balsam.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A resin containing more or less of an essential or volatile oil.
2. n. A species of tree (Abies balsamea).
3. n. An annual garden plant (Impatiens balsamina) with beautiful flowers; balsamine.
4. n. Anything that heals, soothes, or restores.
5. v. To treat or anoint with balsam; to relieve, as with balsam; to render balsamic.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. an ointment containing a fragrant resin
2. n. any seed plant yielding balsam
3. n. any of various fragrant oleoresins used in medicines and perfumes