Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A plant of the genus Digitalis, which includes the foxgloves.
- n. A drug prepared from the seeds and dried leaves of this plant, used in medicine as a cardiac stimulant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A genus of plants, natural order Scrophulariaceœ, containing about 20 species of tall herbs, natives of Europe and western Asia. The foxglove, D. purpurea, the handsomest of the genus, bearing a tall raceme of large large, drooping, bell-shaped flowers, is common in cultivation. It is used in medicine to increase vasomotor tone, raise the blood-tension, favor diuresis, and improve the nutrition of the heart.
Wiktionary
- n. A genus of herbaceous plants of the Scrophulariaceae family, including the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea.
- n. A medical extract of Digitalis purpurea prescribed for heart failure etc.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A genus of plants of the family
Schrophulariaceae , including the foxglove. - n. (Med.) The dried leaves of the purple foxglove (Digitalis purpurea), formerly used in heart disease, disturbance of the circulation, etc. Its use has been largely replaced by that of the pure active ingredient, digitalin. See digitalin.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of several plants of the genus Digitalis
- n. a powerful cardiac stimulant obtained from foxglove
Etymologies
- Modern Latin, from Latin digitālis (named with reference to the German common name for the plant, Fingerhut ("thimble")). (Wiktionary)
- Latin digitālis, of a finger (from the finger-shaped corollas of foxglove), from digitus, finger; see digit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Substances known to inhibit sodium/potassium transport are certain digitalis alkaloids, e.g. oubain, and Skou showed that oubain interferes in the enzyme's activation by sodium.”
“The word digitalis refers likewise to the digits, or fingers of a gauntlet.”
“An all natural extract of the foxglove plant similar to an all natural extract of the stevia plant is digitalis, which is lethal if consumed in all but the most minute amounts.”
“Then we come to the other, the digitalis, which is equally as beautiful.”
“At the time the court concluded that the nurse had poisoned the babies with a drug used to treat heart conditions, digoxin, also known as digitalis, an extract from the foxglove plant.”
“Many of their herb remedies, such as digitalis (from foxglove) and atropine (from belladonna) are still in use today.”
“Heart tonics and stimulants such as digitalis, strychnine and alcohol should be administered when the pulse beats weaken.”
“It may be due to depression of the central nervous system, as in dumminess, or be the result of the administration of drugs, such as digitalis or strophantus.”
“By 1785 Withering’s infusion now called digitalis was in general use.”
“January of the present year, that yellow bottles might be so used, as well as for preventing the decomposition, by light, of the vegetable substances used in pharmacy, such as digitalis, ipecacuanha, cinchona, &c.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘digitalis’.
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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Gesundheit
Words that sound like sneezes
zucchini, zoology, wysiwyg, woodchuck, withhold, wichita, vacuum, twelfth, syzygy, synchronous, swatch, supersede and 120 more...
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Logolepsy
"Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of over 9,000 obscure English words. Though the definition of an 'English' word might seem to be straightforward, it is not. There exist so many adopted, deriv...
Anschauung, Areopagus, Argus, Briarean, Dei gratia, Dei judicium, Deo volente, Duecento, Foehn, Geflugelte Worte, Gegenschein, Hakenkreuz and 9230 more...
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Botanical terms for the masses
The language of botany is for plants, but comes in handy for other purposes, too. Add words that derive from the floristic world but bleed into everyday life.
dendritic, stem, rooted, corolla, seed, indigo, flower, bloom, twig, leaf, digitalis
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Did Someone Say a Dinner Party?
It's a hazardous world out there...poison all around. I've tried not to include too many drugs (including medicines) and have ignored the fact that too much of anything can poison you. We're going ...
cyanide, botulinum, chlorine, mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide gas, mercury, arsenic, ricin, strychnine, aconite, acetic acid, acetone and 147 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 more...
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barnaby's Words
coccyx, procrastination, bollocks, mufti, meme, paraphernalia, endomorph, millpond, cheesecake, pterodactyl, cheesecloth, ethnographic and 34 more...
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Jheti's Words
ordinarily, diacritic, intrinsic, coalesce, salient, valence, crenellations, expurgate, relapse, disconsolate, matriculation, corrugated and 128 more...
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A pinch of poison
Naturally occurring toxins, not always deadly to humans, but all part of nature's extensive chemical vocabulary (Most are synonyms for "please go away and die somewhere else" or "please leave me a...
coprine, saxitoxin, tetrodotoxin, amatoxin, contryphan, bufotenin, epibatidine, batrachotoxin, ciguatoxin, brevetoxin, physalaemin, colchicine and 11 more...
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