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guaco
[gwah-koh]
noun
plural
guacosa climbing composite plant, Mikania guaco, of tropical America.
its leaves, or a substance obtained from them, sometimes used locally as an antidote for snakebites.
guaco
/ ˈɡwɑːkəʊ /
noun
any of several tropical American plants whose leaves are used as an antidote to snakebite, esp the climbers Mikania guaco, family Asteraceae (composites), or Aristolochia maxima ( A. serpentina ), family Aristolochiaceae
the leaves of any of these plants
Word History and Origins
Origin of guaco1
Word History and Origins
Origin of guaco1
Example Sentences
The Tex-Mex chain is going big for this year’s National Guacamole Day and turned itself into “Del Guaco.”
He informs us that the plant thus employed is the vejuco de guaco, hence denominated from its having been observed that the bird of that name also called the serpent-hawk, usually sucked the juice of this plant before his attacks upon poisonous serpents.
GUACO, Huaco or Guao, also Vejuco and Bejuco, terms applied to various Central and South American and West Indian plants, in repute for curative virtues.
The Indians and negroes of Colombia believe the plants known to them as guaco to have been so named after a species of kite, thus designated in imitation of its cry, which they say attracts to it the snakes that serve it principally for food; they further hold the tradition that their antidotal qualities were discovered through the observation that the bird eats of their leaves, and even spreads the juice of the same on its wings, during contests with its prey.
The odour alone of guaco 644 has been said to cause in snakes a state of stupor and torpidity; and Humboldt, who observed that the near approach of a rod steeped in guaco-juice was obnoxious to the venomous Coluber corallinus, was of opinion that inoculation with it imparts to the perspiration an odour which makes reptiles unwilling to bite.
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