Sassafras definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

View all »
Definitions (16)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

noun A deciduous eastern North American tree (Sassafras albidum) having irregularly lobed leaves and aromatic bark, leaves, and branches.
noun The dried root bark of this plant, used as a flavoring and a source of a volatile oil.

Century Dictionary (11)

A tree, the only species of the genus Sassafras. It is common in eastern North America, in the south taking possession, along with the persimmon, of abandoned fields. It reaches a height of about 45 feet. Its wood is light and soft, coarsegrained, not strong, but very durable in contact with the soil, used for fencing, in cooperage, etc. The root, especially its bark, enters into commerce as a powerful aromatic stimulant, and is much used in flavoring and scenting, an oil being distilled in large quantities for the latter purposes. The bark is officinal, as also the pith, which affords a mucilaginous application and a drink. An early name in England was ague-tree. [They] did helpe vs to dig and carry Saxafras, and doe any thing they could, being of a comely proportion and the best condition of any Salvages we had yet incountred. Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 107.
[capitalized] [NL. (C. G. Nees, 1836).] A genus of apetalous trees of the order Laurineæ and tribe Litseaceæ, characterized by an umbel-like inflorescence of diœcious flowers in loose and short racemes from terminal buds, and produced around the base of the new growth of the season. The flowers have a six-lobed perianth and nine stamens in three rows, with their anthers introrsely four-celled, the third row of filaments each with a stalked gland at the base. The only species, S. officinale, is a native of the United States, especially southward and principally east of the Mississippi, extending also into Canada. It is a small or middle-sized tree, with aromatic bark and roots, and remarkable for the green color of its flowers, bud-scales, and branches, and for its dimorphous leaves, the earlier entire and oval, the later three-lobed or irregular. See cut in next column.
Australian sassafras Of Victoria (and Tasmania): Atherosperma moschata of the order Monimiaceæ, a lofty evergreen, with a somewhat useful wood and an aromatic bark used to make a kind of tea and affording an essential oil. Also called plume-nutmeg.

8 more from this dictionary »

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (2)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

The juice of the pokeberry boiled with alum made crimson dye, and a violet juice from the petals of the iris, or "flower-de-luce," that blossomed in June meadows, gave a delicate light purple tinge to white wool The bark of the sassafras was used for dyeing yellow or orange color, and the flowers and leaves of the balsam also. — Home Life in Colonial Days
When the Fortune returned she "was laden with good clapboards, as full as she could stowe, and two hogsheads of beaver and other skins," besides sassafras--a cargo valued at about five hundred pounds. — The Old Coast Road From Boston to Plymouth
The spicy twang of the sassafras was yet on her tongue. — Young Lucretia and Other Stories
Jerome found that sassafras, and snakeroot, and various other aromatic roots and herbs of the wilds about his house had their money value. — Jerome, A Poor Man A Novel
Spice-wood, sassafras, and dittany, are also plenty. — A Ramble of Six Thousand Miles through the United States of America

More examples »

sassafras

View all »
Definitions (16)

American Heritage Dictionary (2)

Century Dictionary (11)

GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

WordNet (2)

Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word »
Related

Used in the Same Context

Etymologies (2)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Century Dictionary (1)

Pronunciations
Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

sassafras

View all » Definitions (16)

View all » Examples (50)

Tags

Stats

stop updating On Twitter

Photos from

Add a related word » Related

Etymologies (2)

Pronunciations Record your own »

Charts

Recently looked up

Recent Favorites

Recent Pronunciations

View all »
Definitions (16)

View all »
Examples (50)

stop updating
On Twitter

Add a related word »
Related

Pronunciations
Record your own »