elaterium

British  

/ ˌɛləˈtɪərɪəm /

noun

1. a greenish sediment prepared from the juice of the squirting cucumber, used as a purgative

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Etymology

Origin of elaterium

C16: from Latin, from Greek elatērion squirting cucumber, from elatērios purgative, from elaunein to drive

Example Sentences

He was likewise purged by a bolus of argent. viv. jallap, Digit. elaterium and calomel, which was repeated on the fourth day, to the third time.

From An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases by Withering, William

The chief vegetable purgatives are aloes, colocynth, gamboge, jalap, scammony, seeds of castor-oil plant, croton-oil, elaterium, the hellebores, and colchicum.

From Aids to Forensic Medicine and Toxicology by Robertson, W. G. Aitchison (William George Aitchison )

It is due to the elaterium of spring.

From Of All Things by Benchley, Robert C.

The juice of the unripe fruit, when expressed and allowed to stand, deposits elaterium as a green sediment with an acrid taste, a faint odour, and powerful cathartic properties.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia Volume 4, Part 2: Ebert to Estremadura by Various

Now may he invoke the virtues of the hellebores, the white and the black, now may he use elaterium.

From History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) Revised Edition by Draper, John William