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• balm-of-Gilead
  balm-of-Gilead

  noun

  any of several plants of the genus Commiphora, especially C. opobalsamum and C. meccanensis, which yield a fragrant oleoresin.
• balm of Gilead
  balm of Gilead

  noun

  any of several trees of the burseraceous genus Commiphora , esp C. opobalsamum of Africa and W Asia, that yield a fragrant oily resin Compare balm myrrh

balm-of-Gilead

American  

[bahm-uhv-gil-ee-uhd] / ˈbɑm əvˈgɪl i əd /

noun

1. any of several plants of the genus Commiphora, especially C. opobalsamum and C. meccanensis, which yield a fragrant oleoresin.

2. Also called Mecca balsam. the resin itself, a turbid yellow, green, or brownish-red water-insoluble gluey liquid, used chiefly in perfumery.

3. a hybrid North American poplar, Populus gileadensis, cultivated as a shade tree.

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balm of Gilead British  

noun

1. any of several trees of the burseraceous genus Commiphora , esp C. opobalsamum of Africa and W Asia, that yield a fragrant oily resin Compare balm myrrh

2. the resin exuded by these trees

3. a North American hybrid female poplar tree, Populus gileadensis (or P. candicans ), with broad heart-shaped leaves

4. a fragrant resin obtained from the balsam fir See also Canada balsam

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Etymology

Origin of balm-of-Gilead

First recorded in 1695–1705

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

balm-of-Gilead balm of Gilead

We also cleared up the slope round it and set out borders of young pine and balm-of-Gilead trees.

From A Busy Year at the Old Squire's by C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens

Beside the fruit trees there was a great umbrella-shaped catalpa, and a balm-of-Gilead, two lindens, and even a ginka,—a rigid, pointed tree with leaves shaped like butterflies, which shivered, but never bent to the wind.

From The Song of the Lark by Willa Sibert Cather

Once in a long while you may see a balm-of-Gilead tree, or a clump of sapling poplars, planted near the door.

From Little Rivers; a book of essays in profitable idleness by Henry Van Dyke

Nor was the enthusiasm of Billy's send-off balm-of-Gilead to his soul as the carriage moved away from the hotel steps.

From The Bachelors A Novel by William Dana Orcutt

They were making it into five hay-cocks, which were arranged in a circle under a huge balm-of-Gilead tree.

From Five Mice in a Mouse-trap by the Man in the Moon. by Addie Ledyard

Concerning which "balm of Gilead," it may be here told that it was formerly of great esteem in the East as a medicine, and as a fragrant unguent.

From Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure by William Thomas Fernie

To no purpose did the ladies pour upon the expiring Amasidia their bottles of rose-water, of pink, of myrtle, of benzoin, of balm of Gilead, of amomum, of gilly-flower, of nutmeg, of ambergris.

From Voltaire's Romances, Complete in One Volume by

The balsam poplar is the balm of Gilead of the early settlers, the Tacamahac of the Northern Indians.

From Trees Worth Knowing by Julia Ellen Rogers

The seams are coated with resin of the balm of Gilead.

From Among the Trees at Elmridge by Ella Rodman Church

Jim," he went on, when he saw I could not answer, "I guess you don't know where I can swap the yellow mud for balm of Gilead.

From Friday, the Thirteenth by Thomas William Lawson