ergot

[ ur-guht, -got ]

/ ˈɜr gət, -gɒt /

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noun

Plant Pathology.

a disease of rye and other cereal grasses, caused by a fungus of the genus Claviceps, especially C. purpurea, which replaces the affected grain with a long, hard, blackish sclerotial body.
the sclerotial body itself.

Pharmacology. the dried sclerotium of C. purpurea, developed on rye plants: used in the production of ergotamine and ergotoxine.

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Origin of ergot

1675–85; <French: literally, a rooster's spur; Old French argos, argoz, argot spur(s)

Words nearby ergot

ergonomic, ergonomics, ergonovine, ergophobia, ergosterol, ergot, ergotamine, ergotin, ergotism, ergotoxine, Ergotrate

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

How to use ergot in a sentence

Another important member of this group is the tiny parasite found on rye and other grains, which gives us the drug ergot.
A Civic Biology|George William Hunter
Occasionally rye flour is made from rye upon which ergot has developed.
Detection of the Common Food Adulterants|Edwin M. Bruce
The history of Ergot of Rye is too fresh in the memory of most people to require more than an allusion here.
Epidemics Examined and Explained: or, Living Germs Proved by Analogy to be a Source of Disease|John Grove
When gathered the ergot is in large irregular lumps, and should be so kept.
The Matron's Manual of Midwifery, and the Diseases of Women During Pregnancy and in Childbed|Frederick Hollick

Ergot of Rye is a stimulant to the muscular nerves of the Uterus of the female, but to no other nerves in any marked degree.
The Action of Medicines in the System|Frederick William Headland

British Dictionary definitions for ergot

ergot

/ (ˈɜːɡət, -ɡɒt) /

noun

a disease of cereals and other grasses caused by ascomycete fungi of the genus Claviceps, esp C. purpurea, in which the seeds or grain of the plants are replaced by the spore-containing bodies (sclerotia) of the fungus

any fungus causing this disease

the dried sclerotia of C. purpurea, used as the source of certain alkaloids used to treat haemorrhage, facilitate uterine contraction in childbirth, etc

Word Origin for ergot

C17: from French: spur (of a cock), of unknown origin

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 ergot

ergot

[ ûr′gət ]

A fungus (Claviceps purpurea) that infects rye as well as other cereal grasses fed to livestock. Ergot forms sclerotia (masses of hyphae) that replace individual seeds in the spike of the infected plant and contain a complex mixture of alkaloids, several of which are medicinally important. Ergot is the basic source of ergotamine and lysergic acid. Ingestion of infected rye produces convulsions, hallucinations, and severe vasoconstriction that can lead to gangrene. Ergot poisoning may have been responsible for outbreaks of mass hysteria and reports of demonic visions in medieval Europe.