GENTIANS

Noun

gentians

plural of gentian

Anagrams

• antigens, steaning

Source: Wiktionary


GENTIAN

Gen"tian, n. Etym: [OE. genciane, F. gentiane, L. gentiana, fr. Gentius, an Illyrian king, said to have discovered its properties.] (Bot.)

Definition: Any one of a genus (Gentiana) of herbaceous plants with opposite leaves and a tubular four- or five-lobed corolla, usually blue, but sometimes white, yellow, or red. See Illust. of Capsule.

Note: Many species are found on the highest mountains of Europe, Asia, and America, and some are prized for their beauty, as the Alpine (Gentiana verna, Bavarica, and excisa), and the American fringed gentians (G. crinita and G. detonsa). Several are used as tonics, especially the bitter roots of Gentiana lutea, the officinal gentian of the pharmacopoeias. Horse gentian, fever root.

– Yellow gentian (Bot.), the officinal gentian (Gentiana lutea). See Bitterwort.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 December 2024

OBLIGATE

(adjective) restricted to a particular condition of life; “an obligate anaerobe can survive only in the absence of oxygen”


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Coffee Trivia

The word “coffee” entered the English language in 1582 via the Dutch “koffie,” borrowed from the Ottoman Turkish “kahve,” borrowed in turn from the Arabic “qahwah.” The Arabic word qahwah was traditionally held to refer to a type of wine.

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