‖ belladonna
(ˌbɛləˈdɒnə)
[mod.L.; a. It. bella donna, lit. ‘fair lady,’ name given in Italy to the plant, on uncertain grounds.
(The usual statement, current since the time of Ray and Tournefort, is given in quot. 1757; a different account is in quot. 1851. A well-known property of the juice is to enlarge the pupil of the eye.)]
I. 1. Bot. The specific name of the Deadly Nightshade or Dwale (Atropa Belladonna), occasionally used as English.
| 1597 Gerard Herbal ii. lvi. (1633) 341 In English, Dwale, or sleeping nightshade: the Venetians and Italians call it Belladona. 1757 Pultney in Phil. Trans. L. 62 Bella-donna is the name, which the Italians, and particularly the Venetians, apply to this plant; and Mr. Ray observes, that it is so called because the Italian ladies make a cosmetic from the juice. 1851 E. Hamilton Flora Homœop. iii. 64 Belladonna, because it was employed by Leucota, a famous poisoner of Italy, to destroy the beautiful women. 1876 Harley Mat. Med. 488 Belladonna is cultivated for medicinal use at Hitchin. |
2. Med. The name, in the pharmacopœia, of the leaves and root of this plant, and of the drug thence prepared, the active principle of which is the alkaloid atropine.
| 1788 Edinb. New Dispens. ii. (1791) 145 The belladonna taken internally has been highly recommended in cancer. 1866 Treas. Bot. 109 Belladonna is said by homœopathists to act as a preventative of scarlet fever. 1875 H. Wood Therap. (1879) 250 Belladonna is not a hypnotic. |
3. attrib.
| 1856 Med. Times & Gaz. XIII. 513 Case of poisoning from the application of belladonna plaster to the skin. 1869 G. Lawson Dis. Eye iv. 126 A fold of lint..kept moist with..the belladonna lotion. 1885 Buck's Handbk. Med. Sci. I. 486/2 The clinical history of a case of belladonna poisoning. Ibid., The patient..had eaten..about thirty belladonna berries. 1890 Billings Med. Dict., Belladonna-leaves... B. plaster. 1896 Daily News 10 Sept. 2/6 Belladonna poisoning. Ibid., The belladonna liniment. 1968 Times 3 Dec. 10/8 Drugs of the belladonna group. |
II. belladonna lily, Amaryllis Belladonna, a native of the Cape of Good Hope.
| 1734 Miller Gard. Cal. 140 The roots of the Guernsey and Belladonna Lillies. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. iv. xxi. 499 The belladonna is a yet more handsome lily. 1866 T. Moore in Treas. Bot. 48 The name Belladonna Lily was given..from the charmingly blended red and white of the perianth, resembling the complexion of a beautiful woman. |