helleborin

[ he-leb-uh-rin, hel-uh-bawr-in, -bohr- ]

noun

1. a colorless, crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous solid, C 28 H 36 O 6 , obtained from the rhizome and root of certain hellebores, and used in medicine chiefly as a purgative.

Word History and Origins

Origin of helleborin¹

First recorded in 1870–75; hellebore + -in ²

Example Sentences

By boiling with zinc chloride, helleborin splits up into sugar and a resin—helleboresin.

From Project Gutenberg