frankincense

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“
It is also on the great altar that the Chaldaeans burn the frankincense, which is offered to the amount of a thousand talents' weight, every year, at the festival of the god.

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Definitions (10)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun An aromatic gum resin obtained from African and Asian trees of the genus Boswellia and used chiefly as incense and in perfumes.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

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Examples (50)

  • Witch's Night CLARE KNELT in the sick chamber, eyes closed, hands clasped, smelling burnt wax, frankincense, and the deathly sweet odor of disease. —  F ;SF; - vol 097 issue 02 - August 1999
  • He sends me a box of geological specimens, and a Chinese idol, and some sticks of frankincense--just received by him from a relative, who is a missionary in Canton, as an offering of remembrance. —  Personal Memoirs Of A Residence Of Thirty Years With The Indian Tribes On The American Frontiers
  • Aromatic woods -- frankincense and myrrh -- from a small and diminishing forest also contribute to the country's exports.
  • They are mixed with frankincense, another natural product that requires human engagement to produce (it come from the resin of a tree), but which is not edible. —  J. Weekly
  • A blend of argan oil (the richest source of Vitamin E) and precious frankincense, myrh and sandalwood, it is the latest signature at Hammam, which has also captivated its customers with other exotic oil blends in the past.
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English frank encens, from Old French franc encens : franc, free, pure; see frank1 + encens, incense; see incense2.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also frankincence; from Middle English frankincens, frankensence, franc encens, from Old French franc encens, from Middle Latin francum incensum, lit, pure incense, ‘pure’ being one of the senses of Middle Latin francus and Old French franc: see frank and incense.
 

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/ˈfræŋkɪnsɛns/
by American Heritage

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