helleborin

American

[he-leb-uh-rin, hel-uh-bawr-in, -bohr-] / hɛˈlɛb ə rɪn, ˈhɛl əˌbɔr ɪn, -ˌboʊr- /

noun

a colorless, crystalline, water-insoluble, poisonous solid, C 28 H 36 O 6 , obtained from the rhizome and root of certain hellebores, and used in medicine chiefly as a purgative.

First recorded in 1870–75; hellebore + -in ²

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023