bezoar
- a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, especially ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
- Obsolete. a counterpoison or antidote.
Origin of bezoar
Examples from the Web for bezoar
Historical Examples of bezoar
The Arabic name of the bezoar (badesar) has the meaning of antidote.
The ancients, both Greeks and Latins, have no knowledge of the bezoar.
Buffon's Natural History. Volume VIII (of 10)Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
The oldest domesticated goats seem to be descended from the Bezoar goat (Capra ægagrus), from the mountains of southwestern Asia.
The New Stone Age in Northern EuropeJohn M. Tyler
Facing the Snorter, he spat in his face, with a noise like thunder, a piece of bezoar as large as a rice-bowl.
Myths and Legends of ChinaE. T. C. Werner
These bodies had long been known as “fossil fir cones” and “bezoar stones.”
bezoar
- a hard mass, such as a stone or hairball, in the stomach and intestines of animals, esp ruminants, and man: formerly thought to be an antidote to poisons
Word Origin for bezoar
Word Origin and History for bezoar
late 15c., ultimately from Arabic bazahr, from Persian pad-zahr "counter-poison," from pad "protecting, guardian, master" (from Iranian *patar-, cf. Avestan patar-, from PIE *pa-tor-, from root *pa- "to protect, feed") + zahr "poison" (from Old Iranian *jathra, from PIE *gwhn-tro-, from root *gwhen- "to strike, kill;" see bane). Originally "antidote," later specifically in reference to a concoction from solid matter found in the stomachs and intestines of ruminants, which was held to have antidotal qualities (1570s).
bezoar
(bē′zôr′)- A hard indigestible mass of material, such as hair, vegetable fibers, or the seeds and skins of fruits, formed in the alimentary canal.