Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A tall coarse plant (Inula helenium) in the composite family, native to Eurasia, having rayed yellow flower heads and aromatic roots formerly used medicinally.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The common name of Inula Helenium, a coarse stout composite plant, a native of central Europe and Asia, sometimes cultivated, and often found naturalized in meadows and pastures in the eastern United States.
- noun A coarse sweetmeat, professedly made from the root of the plant, but really composed of little else than colored sugar.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A large, coarse herb (
Inula Helenium ), with composite yellow flowers. The root, which has a pungent taste, is used as a tonic, and was formerly of much repute as a stomachic. - noun A sweetmeat made from the root of the plant.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A tall Eurasian
herb , Inula helenium, whoseroots have been used medicinally
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun tall coarse Eurasian herb having daisylike yellow flowers with narrow petals whose rhizomatous roots are used medicinally
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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I went quietly about the room, picking up the discarded clothes, straightening the trifling disorder on the table, putting fresh charcoal in the brazier, adding a pinch of elecampane to sweeten the smoke.
Sick Cycle Carousel 2010
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Culpeper endorsed elecampane wholeheartedly: “It has not its equal in the cure of whooping-cough in children, when all other medicines fail.”
Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008
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Culpeper endorsed elecampane wholeheartedly: “It has not its equal in the cure of whooping-cough in children, when all other medicines fail.”
Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008
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Culpeper endorsed elecampane wholeheartedly: “It has not its equal in the cure of whooping-cough in children, when all other medicines fail.”
Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008
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Culpeper endorsed elecampane wholeheartedly: “It has not its equal in the cure of whooping-cough in children, when all other medicines fail.”
Earl Mindell’s New Herb Bible Earl Mindell 2008
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Vegetation was not so completely destroyed; trees died and remained bare and pickled; some grasses suffered, but others of the ranker sort flourished, and great areas were covered by a carpet of dwarfed and stunted corn-cockles and elecampane set in grey fluff.
The Shape of Things to Come Herbert George 2006
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TREATMENT: Coughs can be treated with thyme tea and syrup, or with teas and/or syrups of coltsfoot,* mullein, loquat leaves, elecampane root and flowers, and wild cherry bark.
THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003
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Formula number 61 Old Indian Cough Syrup combines yerba santa, echinacea, osh, grindelia, wild cherry bark, elecampane, and many other herbs in a pleasant-tasting syrup.
THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003
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This is the classic version; clinically Michael has developed his own preferred version, which adds a number of Western herbs, including elecampane, echinacea, boneset, isatis, and horehound.
THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003
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I must remember to boil elecampane root in springwater for his rash.
Tales of Passion, Tales of Woe Sandra Gulland 2000
chained_bear commented on the word elecampane
"I went quietly about the room, picking up the discarded clothes, straightening the trifling disorder on the table, putting fresh charcoal in the brazier, adding a pinch of elecampane to sweeten the smoke."
—Diana Gabaldon, Outlander (NY: Delacorte Press, 1991), 830
January 1, 2010
ruzuzu commented on the word elecampane
I like this one from the Century: "A coarse sweetmeat, professedly made from the root of the plant, but really composed of little else than colored sugar."
July 13, 2015
chained_bear commented on the word elecampane
Usage/historical note in comment on eryngo.
January 9, 2017