Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
ECBALLIUM
Ecballium, genus Ecballium
(noun) exploding cucumber; squirting cucumber
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Ec*bal"li*um, n. Etym: [NL., fr. Gr. Ecbole.] (Bot.)
Definition: A genus of cucurbitaceous plants consisting of the single species Ecballium agreste (or Elaterium), the squirting cucumber. Its fruit, when ripe, bursts and violently ejects its seeds, together with a mucilaginous juice, from which elaterium, a powerful cathartic medicine, is prepared.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Word of the Day
11 January 2025
COWBERRY
(noun) low evergreen shrub of high north temperate regions of Europe and Asia and America bearing red edible berries
Coffee Trivia
