cantharides

American  

[kan-thar-i-deez] / kænˈθær ɪˌdiz /

plural noun

• cantharis
  singular

1. Spanish fly.

2. cantharis. Spanish fly.

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cantharides British  

/ kænˈθærɪˌdiːz /

plural noun

1. Also called: Spanish fly. a diuretic and urogenital stimulant or irritant prepared from the dried bodies of Spanish fly (family Meloidae, not Cantharidae ), once thought to be an aphrodisiac

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Etymology

Origin of cantharides

1350–1400; Middle English < Latin, plural of cantharis < Greek kantharís blister fly

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cantharides cantharis

He found it much more painful than cantharides and much less prompt to act.

From The Medicinal Plants of the Philippines by Jerome Beers Thomas

Does a man ever forget the cantharides when he has a blister on his back?

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. II by Charles James Lever

These striped cantharides are so numerous in all parts of the country that they are probably blown seaward by the wind, and naturally sail ashore on the tide.

From Harper's Young People, October 12, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various

The glands in the scalp absorb the lead, cantharides, cayenne pepper, or whatever the specific poison in the tonic may be; this is carried to the respiratory tract, and creates the symptoms of a cold.

From The Voice Its Production, Care and Preservation by Frank E. Miller

There was some danger of an absorption of the cantharides into the system, which might do more of general harm than would justify an attempt at local good.

From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by William A. (William Andrus) Alcott

But Numenius, in his Art of Fishing, enumerates plainly enough some sort of ὕαινα or plaice, when he says— The cantharis, hyæna, and the mullet.

From The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athen?us by Athen?us

Under this heading may also be mentioned the domesticated insects, the silkworm, the bee and the cantharis.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 8 "Ethiopia" to "Evangelical Association" by Various

The cantharis is largely reared in Spain, but also in other countries in southern and central Europe.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 8 "Ethiopia" to "Evangelical Association" by Various

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