colocynth

[kol-uh-sinth]

noun

1. a plant, Citrullus colocynthis, belonging to the gourd family, of the warmer parts of Asia, the Mediterranean region, etc., bearing a round, yellow or green fruit with a bitter pulp.

2. the fruit of this plant.

3. Pharmacology.,  the drug derived from the pulp of the unripe but full-grown fruit of this plant, used in medicine chiefly as a purgative.

colocynth

/ ˈkɒləsɪnθ /

noun

1. a cucurbitaceous climbing plant, Citrullus colocynthis, of the Mediterranean region and Asia, having bitter-tasting fruit

2. the dried fruit pulp of this plant, used as a strong purgative

Word History and Origins

Origin of colocynth¹

1555–65; < Latin colocynthis < Greek kolokynthís, variant of kolókyntha bitter gourd, bitter cucumber

Word History and Origins

Origin of colocynth¹

C17: from Latin colocynthis, from Greek kolokunthis, from kolokunthē gourd, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

Aloes are, perhaps, the best, combined with colocynth; the dose will vary with the size of the animal.

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It is a dead flat of uninhabited earth; orange colocynth balls, a little wormwood, and some alkaline plants which camels eat, being its chief products.

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Apricot oil in the Himalayas, sunflower oil, oil of cucumber-seed for cooking and lamps, oil of colocynth seed, a lamp oil.

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It is impossible to make any description, either of the most pleasant or of the most unpleasant, of the raspberry or of colocynth.

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