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

See Examples For:

elaterium

I asked him how on earth it got there; but I could only learn that the woman was fifty-six inches round the waist, and that he had treated her with elaterium.

From The Stark Munro Letters by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

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

It forms colourless scales which have a bitter taste, but it is highly inadvisable to taste either this substance or elaterium.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various

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 )

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