euphrasy

[yoo-fruh-see]

noun

Botany.

plural

euphrasies 

1. eyebright.

euphrasy

/ ˈjuːfrəsɪ /

noun

1. another name for eyebright

Word History and Origins

Origin of euphrasy¹

1425–75; late Middle English eufrasie < Medieval Latin eufrasia < Greek euphrasía cheerfulness, gladness (Compare euphraínein to cheer, be glad)

Word History and Origins

Origin of euphrasy¹

C15 eufrasie: from Medieval Latin eufrasia, from Greek euphrasia gladness, from euphrainein to make glad, from _eu- + phrēn mind

Example Sentences

You know the Paradise Lost? and you remember from the eleventh book, in its earlier part, that laudanum already existed in Eden—nay, that it was used medicinally by an archangel; for, after Michael had “purged with euphrasy and rue” the eyes of Adam, lest he should be unequal to the mere sight of the great visions about to unfold their draperies before him, next he fortifies his fleshly spirits against the affliction of these visions, of which visions the first was death.

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So he prescribed the plant we call euphrasy or “eye bright” for complaints of the eyes, because of the likeness to an eye in the flower; small-pox was treated with mulberries because their colour showed that they were proper for diseases of the blood.

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The only trace of affectation, indeed, is in a certain dabbling, in earlier work, with names of jewels such as "chrysoprase," and plants such as "euphrasy" and "agrimony."

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Under the name of euphrasy it formerly enjoyed a great reputation in diseases of the eyes.

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I could not gaze into his sorrowful eyes, and not see in them “Love’s philtred euphrasy.”

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