BEZOAR

Etymology

Noun

bezoar (plural bezoars)

A mass, usually of hair or undigested vegetable matter, found in an animal's intestines; a hairball.

An enterolith.

Source: Wiktionary


Be"zoar, n. Etym: [F. bézoard, fr. Ar. bazahr, badizahr, fr. Per. pad-zahr bezoar; pad protecting + zahr poison; cf. Pg. & Sp. bezoar.]

Definition: A calculous concretion found in the intestines of certain ruminant animals (as the wild goat, the gazelle, and the Peruvian llama) formerly regarded as an unfailing antidote for poison, and a certain remedy for eruptive, pestilential, or putrid diseases. Hence: Any antidote or panacea.

Note: Two kinds were particularly esteemed, the Bezoar orientale of India, and the Bezoar occidentale of Peru. Bezoar antelope. See Antelope.

– Bezoar goat (Zoöl.), the wild goat (Capra ægagrus).

– Bezoar mineral, an old preparation of oxide of antimony. Ure.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

15 April 2025

DOOMED

(adjective) marked by or promising bad fortune; “their business venture was doomed from the start”; “an ill-fated business venture”; “an ill-starred romance”; “the unlucky prisoner was again put in irons”- W.H.Prescott


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

An article published in Harvard Men’s Health Watch in 2012 shows heavy coffee drinkers live longer. The researchers examined data from 400,000 people and found out that men who drank six or more coffee cups per day had a 10% lower death rate.

coffee icon