mescaline

American

[mes-kuh-leen, -lin] / ˈmɛs kəˌlin, -lɪn /

noun

Pharmacology.

a white, water-soluble, crystalline powder, C 1 1 H 1 7 NO 3 , obtained from mescal buttons, that produces hallucinations.

mescaline British

/ ˈmɛskəˌliːn, -lɪn /

noun

a hallucinogenic drug derived from mescal buttons. Formula: C 11 H 17 NO 3

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of mescaline

First recorded in 1895–1900; mescal + -ine ²

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

mescaline

His experiments with mescaline convinced him that consciousness came from an entity outside the brain that he called mind at large.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 15, 2026

He cites experiments with mescaline, trying to create a 'truth' drug, from the perspective of the Dachau doctor Kurt Plötner, for instance.

From Nature ● Oct. 4, 2016

Unlike Huxley, Blake didn't need mescaline to prop up his mysticism.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 12, 2010

Drs. Osmond and Smythies think it would be worth while to do a lot of chemical and biochemical testing of mescaline and schizophrenics.

From Time Magazine Archive

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