gambier

American  

[gam-beer] / ˈgæm bɪər /

Or gambir

noun

1. an astringent extract obtained from the leaves and young shoots of a tropical Asian shrub, Uncaria gambir, of the madder family, used in medicine, dyeing, tanning, etc.

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gambier British  

/ ˈɡæmbɪə /

noun

1. an astringent resinous substance obtained from a rubiaceous tropical Asian woody climbing plant, Uncaria gambir (or U. gambier ): used as an astringent and tonic and in tanning

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Etymology

Origin of gambier

First recorded in 1820–30, gambier is from the Malay word gambir the name of the plant

Example Sentences

A gambier plantation gets exhausted in fifteen years, either from the want of firewood or the land getting impoverished.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.

If a picul of gambier realizes 1½ dollars, the monthly pay will be about three dollars; if gambier fetches two dollars, their pay will amount to four dollars in the month.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.

Its dense, dark jungle is broken up mainly by pepper and gambier plantations, the latter specially in new clearings.

From The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither by Bird, Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy)

The quantity of pepper exported in 1885 was 392 tons, valued at £19,067, and of gambier 1,370 tons, valued at £23,772.

From British Borneo Sketches of Brunai, Sarawak, Labuan, and North Borneo by Treacher, W. H. (William Hood), Sir

Pepper and some other spices flourish, and the soil with but a little cultivation produces rice wet and dry, tapioca, gambier, sugar-cane, coffee, yams, sweet potatoes, cocoa, sago, cotton, tea, cinchona, india rubber, and indigo.

From The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither by Bird, Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy)