noli-me-tangere love

noli-me-tangere

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A warning or prohibition against meddling, touching, or interfering.
  • noun A representation of Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In bot.:
  • noun A plant, Impatiens Noli-me-tangere.
  • noun A plant of the genus Ecballium, the wild or squirting cucumber.
  • noun In medicine, a lupus or epithelioma or other eroding ulcer of the face; more especially, lupus of the nose.
  • noun A picture representing Jesus appearing to St. Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, as related in John xx.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any plant of a genus of herbs (Impatiens) having capsules which, if touched when ripe, discharge their seeds. -- See impatiens.
  • noun The squirting cucumber. See under cucumber.
  • noun (Med.) A name formerly applied to several varieties of ulcerous cutaneous diseases, but now restricted to Lupus exedens, an ulcerative affection of the nose.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a cancerous ulcer of soft tissue and bone

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Late Latin nōlī mē tangere, do not touch me (Jesus' words to Mary Magdalene, John 20:17) : Latin nōlī, do not, imperative of nōlle, to be unwilling + Latin , me + Latin tangere, to touch.]

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Examples

  • Warren pictures a case of noli-me-tangere, a destructive type of epithelial carcinoma (Fig. 254).

    Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine 1896

  • Warren pictures a case of noli-me-tangere, a destructive type of epithelial carcinoma.

    Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine 1896

  • In the damp and shady places of the woods there exists a plant of the same family which, for similar reasons, bears the even more expressive name of _Impatiens noli-me-tangere_, or touch-me-not.

    The Life of the Spider Jean-Henri Fabre 1869

  • Had it no essential sacredness, no _noli-me-tangere_ quality of shining away the gambler's covetous glance, of withering his rude and venturous hand, or of poisoning, like some Nessus 'shirt, the lewd ruffian who might soon thereafter wear it?

    The Complete Prose Works of Martin Farquhar Tupper Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849

  • Had it no essential sacredness, no _noli-me-tangere_ quality of shining away the gambler's covetous glance, of withering his rude and venturous hand, or of poisoning, like some Nessus 'shirt, the lewd ruffian who might soon thereafter wear it?

    Probabilities : An aid to Faith Martin Farquhar Tupper 1849

  • There was also Mr. Wormwood, the noli-me-tangere of literary lions -- an author who sowed his conversation not with flowers but thorns.

    Pelham — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • There was also Mr. Wormwood, the noli-me-tangere of literary lions -- an author who sowed his conversation not with flowers but thorns.

    Pelham — Volume 01 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • Due undoubtedly to the superstitious opinions about menstruation, which came over to us from the ages-of-long-ago, menstruation is still considered a _noli-me-tangere_, and women are afraid to bathe, to douche or even to wash during the periods.

    Woman Her Sex and Love Life William J. Robinson

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