cantharides

American  

[kan-thar-i-deez] / kænˈθær ɪˌdiz /

plural noun

cantharis singular

1. Spanish fly.

2. cantharis. Spanish fly.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of cantharides

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cantharides cantharis

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

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

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

Most practitioners apply counterirritants, such as mustard plasters, turpentine, and ammonia liniment, or cantharides.

From Special Report on Diseases of Cattle by United States. Bureau of Animal Industry

A dangerous compound of the latter sort introduced during the first epidemic of cholera in this country became officinal under the name of liniment of cantharides.

From A System of Practical Medicine by American Authors, Vol. I Volume 1: Pathology and General Diseases by Various

Inverted motions of the urinary lymphatics are reclaimed by cantharides, turpentine, rosin, the sorbentia, and opium, with calcareous earth, and earth of alum, by oil externally, warm-bath.

From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus

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