Definitions
Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word gila monster venom.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
chained_bear commented on the word gila monster venom
"Intimidating 'medicines' of these sorts (see comment/note on theriac) have given the Middle Ages a bad reputation for perverse strangeness, but it is worth remembering that modern medical experiments have produced such things as Byetta, a recently approved drug for diabetes derived from gila monster venom; horseshoe crab blood (which detects bacteria that can infect implants, such as artificial heart valves); and cadaver skin (used in cosmetic treatments to fill in wrinkles). What is really different about the Middle Ages is that all of these spices, jewels, potions, and electuaries were luxury items as well as medicines."
Paul Freedman, Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2008), 68
November 28, 2017