Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A poisonous perennial herb (Atropa belladonna) native to Eurasia and northern Africa and naturalized in parts of North America, having nodding, purplish-brown, bell-shaped flowers and glossy black berries.
- noun An alkaloidal extract or tincture derived from this plant and used in medicine.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A plant, Atropa Belladonna, or deadly nightshade, natural order Solanaceæ, a native of central and southern Europe.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An herbaceous European plant (
Atropa belladonna ) with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due to the alkaloid atropine which it contains. Called alsodeadly nightshade . - noun A species of Amaryllis (
Amaryllis belladonna ); the belladonna lily.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun a
plant , Atropa belladonna, havingpurple bell -shaped flowers andpoisonous black glossy berries ;deadly nightshade - noun an
alkaloid extracted from this plant, sometimes usedmedicinally , containingatropine
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an alkaloidal extract or tincture of the poisonous belladonna plant that is used medicinally
- noun perennial Eurasian herb with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries; extensively grown in United States; roots and leaves yield atropine
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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She had read about some of them in her herbology book: a substance called belladonna, which women applied to their eyes to beautify the pupils and which could lead to blindness, and another one called arsenic, which women swallowed in order to improve their skin and which was fatal in large enough doses.
Beauty Nancy Butcher 2003
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They call the belladonna Aaron's Beard in the country, you know; and it is true that the cattle, simple as they are, are never harmed by it; just because, though it is always in their path, they never stop and taste it.
Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida Selected from the Works of Ouida 1839-1908 Ouida 1873
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Other presses such as belladonna, for example, can pretty much only be found if you show up at a reading in New York, or you order a book directly from the series organizers.
Subscribe, Support Lemon Hound 2009
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The susbstance used to dilate pupils is a relative of the "belladonna" beautiful lady plant so called because the pupil dilation it causes makes people appear to be more beautiful.
Archive 2006-11-01 Field Notes 2006
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The susbstance used to dilate pupils is a relative of the "belladonna" beautiful lady plant so called because the pupil dilation it causes makes people appear to be more beautiful.
A Lesson on Acetylcholine From a Simple Eye Exam Field Notes 2006
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Botanists claim to recognize several species of the plant, and also to ally tobacco by a botanical consanguinity with other plants differing totally in appearance, properties and uses; connecting it with some containing powerful narcotic poisonous properties, such as belladonna, stramonium and hyoscyamus, and also with the innocent tomato and potato.
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Its family is Solanaceae which has, like the Borgias, many toxic members, such as belladonna and black henbane, more suitable for a witches brew than a chef's.
The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper By Shirley Barker, Special to the Planet 2010
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Its family is Solanaceae which has, like the Borgias, many toxic members, such as belladonna and black henbane, more suitable for a witches brew than a chef's.
The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper By Shirley Barker 2010
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A tincture of belladonna and chloride, thirteen drops in hot water six times a day, was supposed to kill the germ.
Deadly Julie Chibbaro 2011
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A tincture of belladonna and chloride, thirteen drops in hot water six times a day, was supposed to kill the germ.
Deadly Julie Chibbaro 2011
madmouth commented on the word belladonna
from the deadly nightshade family
June 22, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word belladonna
Usage on aconite.
July 7, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word belladonna
A strain of medicinal cannabis.
January 15, 2010
vendingmachine commented on the word belladonna
A single leaf is lethal. The berries of the plant are the most dangerous. Consumption of ten berries is enough to kill an adult.
February 27, 2015