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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

balm-of-Gilead balm of Gilead

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

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

"Go and get the balm of Gilead bottle, and put some more on," ordered her mother.

From Good Cheer Stories Every Child Should Know by Asa Don Dickinson

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

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

For this Thome mixed a remedy as generous as the balm of Gilead itself.

From Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft by Sir Walter Scott

The balsams are either liquid or more or less solid; as, for example, the balm of Gilead, and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various

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