hellebore
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhɛlɪbɔː/
ipa: /ˈhɛlɪbɔːɹ/
Forms: form: hellebores
Etymology: From Middle English ellebore, from Old French ellebre, elebore, from Medieval Latin eleborus, via Latin from Ancient Greek ἑλλέβορος (helléboros), possibly from ἄλκη (álkē, “elk [moose]”) βιβρώσκω (bibrṓskō, “to eat”). The initial h was restored in English to reflect the Ancient Greek etymology.
Senses: examples: text: Aretæus recommends moderate venæsection to be repeated, if the patient is plethoric, purging with black hellebore, and in some cases emetics; nourishing diet.
ref: 1811, Theodric Romeyn Beck, An Inaugural Dissertation on Insanity, page 29:
text: Deadly nightshade, henbane, hellebore and mandrakes were of evil reputation[.]
ref: 1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 157:
text: 1998, Plinio Prioreschi, A History of Medicine, Volume III: Roman Medicine, page 122,
Then the physician would use the king of remedies, the powerful one, hellebore: […] We suspect that after a sufficient number of administrations of hellebore the patient, if he had not done so before, would declare himself cured.
text: It's Virgil who sends me to the hellebores. He mentions them as a component of an ointment to be applied to sheep suffering from skin diseases. The ointment comprises “olive oil lees mixed with silver slag, sulphur, pitch from Mount Ida, wax rich in oil, sea-squill, as well, and strong hellebore and black bitumen.”
ref: 2006, Janet Lembke, From Grass to Gardens: How to Reap Bounty from a Small Yard, page 189:
glosses: Any of the common garden flowering plants of the genus Helleborus, in family Ranunculaceae, having supposed medicinal properties.
examples: text: 1915 July 14, Leland Ossian Howard, Robert Harris Hutchison, House Flies, US Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 679, page 15,
Of the numerous substances tried, the one which seems best to fulfill these conditions is powdered hellebore. Some of the powdered hellebore in use is prepared from the roots of a plant which botanists know as Veratrum viride, and which is popularly known as Indian polk or itch weed.
text: Hellebore is a classic insecticide that has not found much favor in today's pest-control recommendations, though it was certainly effective for its time. In some organic pest-control books information on hellebore can still be found, but by and large its use went out of favor in the 1920s and 1930s.
ref: 2008, Jeff Gillman, The Truth About Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why, page 110:
glosses: A toxic extract of certain false hellebores (Veratrum album or Veratrum viride), formerly used as a pesticide.
Synonyms: sense: any species of genus Helleborus
english: particularly Helleborus niger
translation: particularly Helleborus niger
word: Christmas rose
Derived terms: word: American hellebore
taxonomic: Veratrum viride
word: American white hellebore
taxonomic: Helleborus viridis
word: bastard hellebore
taxonomic: Helleborus niger
word: big hellebore
taxonomic: Helleborus niger
word: black hellebore
taxonomic: Veratrum album
word: European white hellebore
english: any plant of genus Veratrum
translation: any plant of genus Veratrum
word: false hellebore
word: fetid hellebore (Helleborus foetidus
taxonomic: Veratrum viride
word: green false hellebore
taxonomic: Helleborus viridis
word: green hellebore
word: helleboric
word: helleborin
word: helleborine
word: helleborism
word: hellebortin
word: stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus
taxonomic: Veratrum viride
word: swamp hellebore
taxonomic: Veratrum viride
word: white hellebore
taxonomic: Eranthis hyemalis
alt: syn. Helleborus hyemalis
word: winter hellebore
Related terms: veratridine