‖ opobalsamum
(ɒpəʊˈbælsəməm)
[L., a. Gr. ὀποβάλσαµον juice of the balsam tree, f. ὀπός juice + βάλσαµον the balsam-tree.]
The balsam or oleoresin called Balm of Gilead or Balm of Mecca: see balm n. 10.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xviii. (1495) 613 Balsamum is a tree lyke to a vine,..yf the rynde of the stocke is smyten wyth yren combes, thenne droppyth therof noble Opobalsamum. 1616 Bullokar Eng. Expos., Opobalsamum, a precious iuice or liquor. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict., Balm of Gilead,..Opobalsamum, the finest Balsom we know of, and being brought to us chiefly from Mecca, some call it the Balm of Mecca. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. x. 113 The ignorance or experience of antiquity had ascribed to the opobalsamum the most salutary virtues. |
b. The tree producing this, a species of Balsamodendron.
| 1737 Whiston Josephus, Antiq. ix. i. §2 In that place grows..the opobalsamum. |