curare
Americannoun
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a blackish, resinlike substance derived from tropical plants of the genus Strychnos, especially S. toxifera, and from the root of pareira, used by certain South American Indians for poisoning arrows and employed in physiological experiments, medicine, etc., for arresting the action of motor nerves.
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a plant yielding this substance.
noun
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black resin obtained from certain tropical South American trees, esp Chondrodendron tomentosum , acting on the motor nerves to cause muscular paralysis: used medicinally as a muscle relaxant and by South American Indians as an arrow poison
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any of various trees of the genera Chondrodendron (family Menispermaceae ) and Strychnos (family Loganiaceae ) from which this resin is obtained
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A dark, resinous extract obtained from several tropical American woody plants, especially Chondrodendron tomentosum or certain species of Strychnos, used as an arrow poison by some Indian peoples of South America.
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A purified preparation of an alkaloid obtained from Chondrodendron tomentosum, used in medicine and surgery to relax skeletal muscles.
Etymology
Origin of curare
1770–80; < Portuguese < Carib kurari
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The word “curate” comes from the Latin “curatus,” the past participle of “curare,” which means “to take care of.”
From New York Times
Even today, most patients undergoing major surgery have no idea that part of the anaesthetic mix will be a modern pharmaceutical version of curare, a poison derived from a South American plant, which causes paralysis.
From The Guardian
With curare this cannot happen and it is possible for patients to be awake and, since they are entirely paralyzed, for the anesthesiologist to be unaware of it.
From New York Times
This is not only true for those experimenting with curare.
From The Guardian
Like the ecclesiastical “curate” or the museum “curator,” it comes from the Latin curare, which means “to take care of.”
From Washington Post
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
