ergot

American  

[ur-guht, -got] / ˈɜr gət, -gɒt /

noun

1. Plant Pathology.

   1. a disease of rye and other cereal grasses, caused by a fungus of the genus Claviceps, especially C. purpurea, which replaces the affected grain with a long, hard, blackish sclerotial body.

   2. the sclerotial body itself.

2. Pharmacology. the dried sclerotium of C. purpurea, developed on rye plants: used in the production of ergotamine and ergotoxine.

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ergot British  

/ ˈɜːɡət, -ɡɒt /

noun

1. a disease of cereals and other grasses caused by ascomycete fungi of the genus Claviceps, esp C. purpurea, in which the seeds or grain of the plants are replaced by the spore-containing bodies (sclerotia) of the fungus

2. any fungus causing this disease

3. the dried sclerotia of C. purpurea, used as the source of certain alkaloids used to treat haemorrhage, facilitate uterine contraction in childbirth, etc

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ergot Scientific  

/ ûr′gət /

1. A fungus (Claviceps purpurea) that infects rye as well as other cereal grasses fed to livestock. Ergot forms sclerotia (masses of hyphae) that replace individual seeds in the spike of the infected plant and contain a complex mixture of alkaloids, several of which are medicinally important. Ergot is the basic source of ergotamine and lysergic acid. Ingestion of infected rye produces convulsions, hallucinations, and severe vasoconstriction that can lead to gangrene. Ergot poisoning may have been responsible for outbreaks of mass hysteria and reports of demonic visions in medieval Europe.

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Etymology

Origin of ergot

1675–85; < French: literally, a rooster's spur; Old French argos, argoz, argot spur(s)

Example Sentences

Ergot is a natural fungus that can grow on rye in wet conditions.

From Time • Sep. 26, 2017

Ergot is the name given to the spore, the sclerotium, of the parasitic filamentous fungus Claviceps purpurea, which attacks various cereal grains and wild grasses, especially rye.

From Scientific American • May 17, 2013

This optical illusion is especially striking when, as in the case of Ergo Ergot, two circles of the same size are placed side by side, and then surrounded by circles – small circles on one, larger ones on the other.

From The Guardian • Jul. 10, 2011

"Kramer's Ergot" #5 and "Scheherazade" both provide smartly guided rides through some of comix' unexplored and gorgeous hinterlands.

From Time • Dec. 5, 2004

Ergot and hydrastis and its alkaloids seem to have no effect on the vasomotor center.

From Disturbances of the Heart by Osborne, Oliver T. (Oliver Thomas)