colocynth

American  

[kol-uh-sinth] / ˈkɒl ə sɪnθ /

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.

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colocynth British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of colocynth

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

Example Sentences

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

From Project Gutenberg

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.

From Project Gutenberg

There are also cultivated in different parts of the peninsula, according to the soil and climate, beans, rice, lentils, tobacco, melons, saffron, colocynth, poppies, olives, &c.

From Project Gutenberg

In the second, on the right hand, is Elisha the Prophet sweetening with meal the bitter pot, the food of which, spoilt by colocynths, his prophets were not able to eat.

From Project Gutenberg

That shocking thing that drives people mad colocynth, or colchicum, or something like that.

From Project Gutenberg