nepenthe

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Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe And forget this lost Lenore Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore Transcriber's Note 1: nepenthe--A drug to relieve grief, by blocking memory of sorrow or pain Prophet!"

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A drug mentioned in the Odyssey as a remedy for grief.
  2. noun Something that induces forgetfulness of sorrow or eases pain.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Never nepenthe, never abandonne_, always wide-awake, and watching for saliences, I had gone abroad like a falcon, and roamed at home like a hungry jackal. —  Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War
  • The mantles hanging from their hooks seemed animated by a factitious life, and assumed a human aspect of vitality; and when Nyssia stripped of her last garment, approached the bed, all white and naked as a shade, he thought that Death herself had broken the diamond fetters wherewith Hercules of old enchained her at the gates of hell when he delivered Alcestes, and had come in person to take possession of Candaules Overcome by the power of the nepenthe-juice, the king at last slumbered. —  King Candaules
  • Unguents and astringents were in use in the physician's art, and there is reference to "nepenthe," a narcotic drug, and also to the use of sulphur as a disinfectant. —  Outlines of Greek and Roman Medicine
  • Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe And forget this lost Lenore Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore Transcriber's Note 1: nepenthe--A drug to relieve grief, by blocking memory of sorrow or pain Prophet!" —  McGuffey's Sixth Eclectic Reader
  • Among the ancient Greeks and Egyptians they found something they called nepenthe, and the Theban women knew how to compound it. —  New Tabernacle Sermons
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Alteration of Latin nēpenthes, from Greek nēpenthes (pharmakon), grief-banishing (drug), nepenthe, neuter of nēpenthēs : nē-, not; see ne in Indo-European roots + penthos, grief; see kwent(h)- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Pronounced as if L.; but the L. form is nepenthes: see nepenthes.
 

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/nəˈpɛnθi/
by American Heritage

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