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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

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

He said the balm-of-Gilead lint was much better than the linen lint.

From Our Young Folks at Home and Abroad by Daphne Dale

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

The tension of their thoughts was too sharp; they turned for relief to the scene before them, stopping at the stile to look back at the steepled white church, standing under its spreading balm-of-Gilead tree.

From The Stolen Singer by Martha Idell Fletcher Bellinger

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

Invisible Angel: "Jesus—Son of Virgin Mary; Lift the burden from the weary: Pity, Jesus, and anoint him With the holy balm of Gilead."

From The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems by Hanford Lennox Gordon

It finds him wounded, sick and suffering, and points him to the balm of Gilead and the Physician of souls.

From The Story of Mattie J. Jackson Her Parentage—Experience of Eighteen years in Slavery—Incidents during the War—Her Escape from Slavery by L. S. Thompson

And there is my lovely linden, and mother's balm of Gilead.

From Summerfield or, Life on a Farm by Day Kellogg Lee

Here I first saw the tree, or rather shrub, which bears the balm of Gilead, erst so celebrated for its tonic and stomachic properties.

From Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 7 by Charles Dudley Warner

All the girls were seated round little round tables amongst beds of geraniums, heltrope, verbenas, and balm of Gilead.

From Story of My Life, volumes 1-3 by Augustus J. C. Hare