digitalis

[ dij-i-tal-is, -tey-lis ]

/ ˌdɪdʒ ɪˈtæl ɪs, -ˈteɪ lɪs /

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noun

any plant belonging to the genus Digitalis, of the figwort family, especially the common foxglove, D. purpurea.

the dried leaves of the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, used in medicine as a heart stimulant.

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Origin of digitalis

1655–65; <New Latin digitālis, a name apparently suggested by the German name for the foxglove, Fingerhut literally, thimble; see digital

Words nearby digitalis

digital fount, digital frame, digital humanities, digital immigrant, digitalin, digitalis, digitalism, digitalization, digitalize, digital mapping, digital media

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use digitalis in a sentence

Its action on the circulation greatly resembles that of digitalis, but is more manageable.
Cooley's Cyclopdia of Practical Receipts and Collateral Information in the Arts, Manufactures, Professions, and Trades..., Sixth Edition, Volume I|Arnold Cooley
This is just one expression of the folly which surrounded the use of digitalis at the time of its discovery.
Scientific American Supplement No. 299|Various
The normal digitalis flower has a large pendant purple corolla much spotted upon the middle lobe of the larger and lower lip.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, July 1899|Various
Digitalis, which you then considered as a more certain diuretic than any you had ever tried.
An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses|William Withering

In something more than a year and a half, his dropsy returned, but the Digitalis did not then succeed to our wishes.
An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses|William Withering

British Dictionary definitions for digitalis

digitalis

/ (ˌdɪdʒɪˈteɪlɪs) /

noun

any Eurasian scrophulariaceous plant of the genus Digitalis, such as the foxglove, having bell-shaped flowers and a basal rosette of leaves

a drug prepared from the dried leaves or seeds of the foxglove: a mixture of glycosides used medicinally to treat heart failure and some abnormal heart rhythms
any cardiac glycoside, whatever its origin

Word Origin for digitalis

C17: from New Latin, from Latin: relating to a finger (referring to the corollas of the flower); based on German Fingerhut foxglove, literally: finger-hat or thimble

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for digitalis

digitalis

[ dĭj′ĭ-tăl′ĭs ]

A drug prepared from the seeds and dried leaves of the purple foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, and prescribed as a cardiac stimulant in the treatment of congestive heart failure and other disorders of the heart.