aconite
(ˈækənaɪt)
[a. Fr. aconit, ad. L. aconīt-um, ad. Gr. ἀκόνιτον of uncertain etymol. The L. form aconītum is also used unchanged, especially in sense 2.]
1. A genus of poisonous plants, belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. esp. the common European species Aconitum Napellus, called also Monk's-hood and Wolf's-bane. Also applied loosely or erroneously to other poisonous plants.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens 426 Aconit is of two sortes..the one is named..Aconit that baneth, or killeth Panthers. The other..Aconit that killeth Woolfs. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. (1641) 27/1 Onely the touch of Choak-pard Aconite Bereaves the Scorpion both of sense and might. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 271 (1634) It groweth naturally vpon bare and naked rocks, which the Greeks cal Aconas: which is the reason (as some haue said) why it was named Aconitum. 1613 Heywood Braz. Age ii. ii. 215 With Aconitum that in Tartar springs. 1697 Dryden Virgil's Georgic ii. 209 Nor pois'nous Aconite is here produc'd, Or grows unknown, or is, when known, refus'd. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxi. 298 Aconite has the upper petal arched; and three or five capsules. 1860 Piesse Lab. Chem. Wond. 91 The accidental substitution of aconite root or monkshood for horse-radish. |
2. An extract or preparation of this plant, used as a poison and in pharmacy. poet. Deadly poison.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, iv. iv. 48 Though it doe worke as strong As Aconitum, or rash Gun-powder. 1606 Dekker Newes fr. Hell (1842) 87 note, Ingenious, fluent, facetious T. Nash, from whose abundant pen hony flow'd to thy friends, and mortall aconite to thy enemies. 1656 Cowley Anacreont. i. (1669) 41 All the World's Mortal to 'em then, And Wine is Aconite to men. a 1735 Ld. Lansdowne To Mira 21 (1779) Despair, that aconite does prove, And certain death, to others' love. a 1868 H. Buck Infant Life (ed. 3) 124 Aconite..this remedy has been aptly styled ‘The Homœopathic Lancet.’ 1869 Daily News May 26 She and the deceased had eaten the root of a plant called wolf's-bane, the active poison of which is aconite. |
3. winter aconite: Common name of another little plant of the same order, Eranthis hyemalis, having a yellow anemone-like flower springing from a whorl of leaves.
| 1741 Compl. Fam. Piece ii. iii. 379 Yellow Aconite, double scarlet and dwarf Lichnis. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxi. 299 The winter-flowering species commonly called Winter-Aconite, is the only one that drops its petals. 1879 Spectator 6 Sept. 1127/1 The small yellow winter-aconite is more cheery than the lingering rosebud born too late to bloom. |