Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several tropical American plants of the genus Smilax, having fragrant roots used as a flavoring.
- n. The dried roots of any of these plants.
- n. A sweet soft drink flavored with these roots.
- n. Either of two North American plants (Aralia hispida or A. nudicaulis) having umbels of small white flowers and bipinnately compound leaves.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The rhizome of several plants of the genus Smilax, chiefly, it is believed, of S. medica, S. officinalis, and S. papyracea, all of tropical America.
- n. Any plant of the order Smilaceæ.
- n. A medicinal preparation of sarsaparilla-root. The reputation of sarsaparilla as a medicine has sometimes suffered from worthless substitutes, or from the root being too long kept, but it now has an established character as an alterative, most usefully employed in syphilis, but also valuable in chronic rheumatism and other affections. Compare
china-root . - n. Hardenbergia monophylla. See Hardenbergia.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various tropical American vines, of the genus Smilax, having fragrant roots
- n. The dried roots of these plants, or a flavoring material extracted from these roots
- n. A soft drink flavored with this extract
- n. Any of several North American plants, of the genus Aralia, having umbels and small white flowers
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any plant of several tropical American species of Smilax.
- n. The bitter mucilaginous roots of such plants, used in medicine and in sirups for soda, etc.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various prickly climbing plants of the tropical American genus Smilax having aromatic roots and heart-shaped leaves
- n. carbonated drink flavored with an extract from sarsaparilla root or with birch oil and sassafras
Etymologies
- From Spanish zarzaparrilla. (Wiktionary)
- Spanish zarzaparrilla : zarza, bramble (from Arabic šaras, colloquial variant of širs, from šarasa, to be vicious, ultimately from šarra; see śrr in Semitic roots) + parrilla, diminutive of parra, vine. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It is too the real black Jamaica sarsaparilla, that is so much valued in the European and American markets.”
“The briar which produces the sarsaparilla is a tall creeping plant, which throws out a large number of long wrinkled roots of a uniform thickness, and about the size of a goose-quill.”
The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon
“He continues with advice on how to recognize and treat the disease with various substances and techniques such as sarsaparilla, guaiacum, various ointments, and fumigation.”
Pestilence and Headcolds: Encountering Illness in Colonial Mexico
“Glass fragments we've recovered include pieces from a bottle labeled "sarsaparilla" (left) and colored medicine bottles (center and right).”
2006 Field Report 4 « Interactive Dig Johnson's Island – Unlocking a Civil War Prison
“A kind of sarsaparilla, or a plant which is believed by the”
“Various drugs, -- such as sarsaparilla, rhubarb, jalap, nux vomica, and Peruvian bark -- are abundant.”
“This is the creeping plant that yields the celebrated "sarsaparilla;" and Don Pablo, having made an analysis of some roots, discovered it to be the most valuable species -- for it is to be remembered, that, like the cinchona, a whole genus, or rather several genera, furnish the article of commerce.”
The Forest Exiles The Perils of a Peruvian Family in the Wilds of the Amazon
“When the disease is constitutional, in addition to the above external applications, give cooling purges and bitters to cleanse the blood, such as sarsaparilla, poplar root bark, sassafras or burdock.”
“The patient should drink bitters to cleanse and purify the blood, such as sarsaparilla, wild mercury, or some similar bitters, and make a free and general use of sassafras tea.”
“The seized articles include food products, such as sarsaparilla, spearmint leaves, cornstarch, sweet orange peels powder, licorice powder, sassafras, and salt. infoZine ® is generously hosted with web services provided by”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sarsaparilla’.
-
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...
-
roots of beauty
aesthetics, tuberose, gladiolus, actaeon, scammony, symmetry, philocaly, elegant, callisteia, kalology, resplendence, beauteousness and 23 more...
-
•Unexpected Pronunciation, Now! with ...
Inspired to publicity by the conversation at segway. Thanks, pals!
boatswain, clapboard, waistcoat, victuals, forecastle, solder, colonel, ensign, worcestershire sauce, creatinine, coelacanth, banal and 79 more...
-
wakcy's Words
apocalypse, interlude, drome, absolution, atrocity, ruse, pristine, mason, reparable, deteriorate, pyramid, hipster and 283 more...
-
the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
-
gcherches's Words
serendipity, roadrunner, inner child, coagulant, esquire, vicissitude, idiot savant, mitigation, affirmation, affirmative, diatribe, affirmative action and 185 more...
-
whatever1013's Words
chocolate, sesquipedalophobia, discombobulated, callipygian, retronym, squirm, cobalt blue, plethora, onomatopoeia, blowhard, strumpet, shush and 173 more...
-
poonis's Words
windswept, brouhaha, nocuous, sanguine, dissonance, diatribe, homunculus, rancor, stupor, resplendent, anecdote, splay and 125 more...
-
ktrey's wordlist
Words that I like.
Many may be lexicographically impotent due to a lack of citations and definition. Hopefully I'll be able to rectify this eventually.velleity, dispositive, bloviate, bibulous, fungible, concupiscence, avuncular, carnaptious, thrawn, hypocoristic, diegesis, lagniappe and 928 more...
-
Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
-
The braggadocio recipe
A selection of English* words ending with a vowel (except "y", "ea", ie", "ee", "oo", "ea", "ou") that is REALLY pronounced.
My favorite English words, by the way.
The good twin of The ...braggadocio, recipe, encyclopedia, solo, gnu, flu, maybe, apocope, mini, arrhythmia, folio, stereo and 197 more...
-
DreamieGrl's Words
integral, serendipidy, cordial, interesting, crucial, placate, superfluous, supercilious, scintillating, lush, tryst, mythical and 111 more...
-
bertilak's Words
antidisestablishm..., feldercarb, wainscoting, eleemosynary, oxymoron, fuliginous, libration, lammergeier, saxifrage, ichor, lambent, smaragdine and 414 more...
-
snickclunk's Words
bespoke, freshet, coquette, lath, victrola, feckless, viridian, lariat, sargasso, sobriquet, grift, sophistry and 134 more...
-
stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
-
Words of Whimsy & Grace
abecedary, addendum, ampersand, anachronism, avuncular, balderdash, barnacle, befuddle, behemoth, bejeebers, blabbermouth, blatherskite and 465 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sarsaparilla.

yarb They started homeward at noon, having drunk quarts of sarsaparilla to quench their thirst.
- William Steig, Farmer Palmer's Wagon Ride Sep 20, 2008