Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. See mandrake.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The mandrake.
- n. [capitalized] A genus of plants of the natural order Solanaceœ, the nightshade family, and tribe Atropeœ. The corolla is induplicate in the bud, the calyx is foliaceous and five-parted, and the pedicels are partially clustered among the radical leaves. They are herbs, nearly stemless, rising from a thick, fieshy, often forked root, and bear tuffs of large, ovate, lance-shaped leaves, and quite large pale bluish-violet, white. or purple flowers, which are reticulately veined. Five species have been described (but these may be reducible to one), found throughout the Mediterranean region. The ordinary plant has been commonly known as M. officinalis, but this includes a spring and a fall kind sometimes separated as species, M. vernalis and M. autumnalis. The mandragora or mandrake has long been known in medicine, and has been the subject of much superstition. See
mandrake .
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A genus of plants; the mandrake. See mandrake, 1.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a genus of stemless herbs of the family Solanaceae
Etymologies
- From Latin mandragora (Wiktionary)
- Middle English; see mandrake. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Asked, in what place this mandrake was, and what she had heard of it? she said that she had heard that it grew under the tree of which mention has been made, but did not know the place; she said also that she had heard that above the mandragora was a hazel tree.”
“The mandragora is a wild plant, the like of which does not exist.”
Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 4
“Perhaps the most plausible suggestion that has been made as to the derivation of the word "mandragora" is Delâtre's claim [395] that it is compounded of the words _mandros_, "sleep," and _agora_, "object or substance," and that mandragora means "the sleep-producing substance".”
“In most books on Egyptian mythology the word (_d'd'_) for the substance put into the drink to colour it is translated "mandragora," from its resemblance to the Hebrew word”
“(variously transliterated _doudou_ or _didi_), which Brugsch [366] and his followers interpreted as "mandragora," is now believed to have another meaning.”
“Radix mandragora ebibitae, Annuli ex ungulis Asini, Stercus amatae sub cervical positum, illa nesciente, &c., quum odorem foeditatis sentit, amor solvitur.”
“So have many besides: and poppy and mandragora will never medicine them to the sweet sleep they tasted yesterday.”
“Not poppy nor mandragora will ever medicine this bitter feud! ...”
“A confirmation of this appears from considering the things which induce sleep; they all, whether potable or edible, for instance poppy, mandragora, wine, darnel, produce a heaviness in the head; and persons borne down [by sleepiness] and nodding”
“A drug made from extracts of mandragora, jujube and opium ensured that Moustache felt no pain.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mandragora’.
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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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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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Vampire Words
Words that make me think of Vampire: The Requiem
torpor, torpid, amaranth, vitae, embrace, ventrue, toreador, masquerade, dominate, nightmare, majesty, dread and 103 more...
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harry potter words
quidditch, apparate, disapparate, lumos, snitch, pensieve, dementor, azkaban, wingardium, leviosa, horcrux, bludger and 376 more...
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...:::bella:::...
originally started as an attempt to collect words I found visually and auditorially beautiful, as well as psychically evocative, this has become nothing more than a grab bag of word curiosities, a ...
bergamot, jambalaya, bee's knees, heliotrope, hosanna, gamboge, aureole, filial, madrigal, multilingual, sacrosanct, sojourn and 1072 more...
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The word collector
My collection of words that are intriguing, but don't fit my other lists.
snailery, aplasia, postulant, aigrette, caravel, frigate, capeskin, suffusion, schist, varlet, sepulchral, anisotropy and 317 more...
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botheyesgreen's Words
joy, coriander, mandarine, avocado, strawberry, peach, hobgoblin, malfeasance, saturation, bourbon, hoopoe, quango and 22 more...
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the herbalist
Started off as herbs and spices, now to herbalry and nature-based drugs of all sorts. Plus beautiful flower names!
frankincense, myrrh, basil, thyme, rosemary, paprika, cardamom, tumeric, caraway, juniper, senna, anise and 57 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for mandragora.
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