▪ I. ‖ guaco
(ˈgwɑːkəʊ)
[Sp.-American.]
1. The name given in tropical America to Mikania Guaco, Aristolochia anguicida, and other plants used as an antidote to snake-bites. Also, the medicinal substance obtained from the plant. Hence ˈguaconize v. trans., to treat with guaco.
| 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) III. 301 note, The guaco, a vegetable matter employed in South America as an antidote for the bite of serpents, has been strongly recommended as an antidote for hydrophobia. 1853 Seeman in Hooker's Jrnl. Bot. V. 76 Remarks on Guaco-plants... The natives informed him that they had ‘guaconized’ themselves, i.e. taken Guaco. |
2. The Rocky Mountain bee plant, Cleome serrulata; also, the pigment made from it and used by the Pueblo Indians for decorating pottery. U.S.
| 1844 J. Gregg Commerce Prairies I. 278 This kind of crockery..is often fancifully painted with colored earths and the juice of a plant called guaco, which brightens by burning. 1936 Burlington Mag. Nov. 241/2 The use of ‘guaco’ to bind the glaze. 1956 A. O. Shepard Ceramics for Archeologist i. 33 Before firing, the paint, which is called guaco, is a dark olive-green. |
▪ II. guaco
var. huaco.