Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An aromatic gum resin obtained from several trees and shrubs of the genus Commiphora of northeastern Africa and Arabia, used in perfume, incense, and medicinal preparations.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A gummy resinous exudation from several species of Commiphora (Balsamodendron).
- noun The sweet cicely of Europe. See
Myrrhis .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A gum resin, usually of a yellowish brown or amber color, of an aromatic odor, and a bitter, slightly pungent taste. It is valued for its odor and for its medicinal properties. It exudes from the bark of a shrub of Abyssinia and Arabia, the
Commiphora Myrrha (syn.Balsamodendron Myrrha ) of the familyBurseraceae , or from theCommiphora abyssinica . The myrrh of the Bible is supposed to have been partly the gum above named, and partly the exudation of species of Cistus, or rockrose. - noun See the Note under
Bdellium .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable A red-brown
resinous material, the dried sap of the Commiphoramyrrha tree.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun aromatic resin that is burned as incense and used in perfume
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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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The best myrrh comes from the species Commiphora abyssinica.
An old chestnut, re-roasted ewillett 2007
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This mountain of myrrh is supposed to signify Mount Moriah, on which the temple was built, where incense was daily burnt to the honour of God.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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13 A bundle of myrrh is my wellbeloved unto me; he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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And Sandy brought myrrh, which is a gift of water and death.
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And Sandy brought myrrh, which is a gift of water and death.
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Since ancient times the fragrant plant secretion known as myrrh has been used in incense, perfume, and even as a painkiller.
Medicinal Myrrh 1996
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Our myrrh is the same drug that was used by the ancients under the above name.
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Moreover, they offer gifts in keeping with Christ's greatness: "gold, as to the great King; they offer up incense as to God, because it is used in the Divine Sacrifice; and myrrh, which is used in embalming the bodies of the dead, is offered as to Him who is to die for the salvation of all" (Gregory, Hom. x in Evang.).
Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition Aquinas Thomas
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Another is a rangy assemblage of vicious thorns, called myrrh, a second gift of the Magi.
NYT > Home Page By MICHAEL TORTORELLO 2011
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The holy hill (as some observe) is here called both a mountain of myrrh, which is bitter, and a hill of frankincense, which is sweet, for there we have occasion both to mourn and rejoice; repentance is a bitter sweet.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
skipvia commented on the word myrrh
"What is myrrh, anyway?"
October 11, 2007
sionnach commented on the word myrrh
A substance secreted by myrrhmaids?
October 11, 2007
skipvia commented on the word myrrh
Har! Thanks for that one.
October 11, 2007
reesetee commented on the word myrrh
A cow speaking with an odd accent?
October 11, 2007
uselessness commented on the word myrrh
Bahahaha!
October 11, 2007
skipvia commented on the word myrrh
The answer to "Can you think of any words that rhyme with "brrr?"
October 11, 2007
npydyuan commented on the word myrrh
Grrrr...!
October 11, 2007
uselessness commented on the word myrrh
Erm, burr, cur, slur, whirr, fur, blur, never mind.
October 11, 2007
reesetee commented on the word myrrh
Wait...wasn't that a rhetorical question?
October 11, 2007
uselessness commented on the word myrrh
Aye, that it were. For sure.
October 11, 2007
skipvia commented on the word myrrh
Well, I didn't say it was the only answer...
October 11, 2007
skipvia commented on the word myrrh
And, to answer reesetee, I was kind of trolling for Monty Python fans with the original question.
October 11, 2007
reesetee commented on the word myrrh
Yep. You don't have to troll far in this place.
October 12, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word myrrh
If we only had a shrubbery...
October 12, 2007
skipvia commented on the word myrrh
Well, if you're dropping by again, do pop in, huh. And thanks a lot for the gold, and frankincence, but don't worry too much about the myrrh next time, all right?
December 14, 2007
sionnach commented on the word myrrh
See also demurred.
December 14, 2007
chained_bear commented on the word myrrh
"Long before the invention of television or the romantic novelist there was the Song of Songs, with its lyrical evocation of the loved one as 'an orchard of pomegranates with all the choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all chief spices.'"
--Jack Turner, _Spice: The History of a Temptation _ (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), xiii.
November 26, 2016
chained_bear commented on the word myrrh
Interesting historical note/usage on bdellium. Another on galbanum, and a translated primary source from ca. 900 on perfumer.
December 2, 2016