moxa

American  

[mok-suh] / ˈmɒk sə /

noun

moxas plural

1. a flammable substance or material obtained from the leaves of certain Chinese and Japanese wormwood plants, especially Artemisia moxa.

2. this substance or a similar one of cotton, wool, or the like, placed on the skin usually in the form of a cone or cylinder and ignited for use as a counterirritant.

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moxa British  

/ ˈmɒksə /

noun

1. a downy material obtained from various plants and used in Oriental medicine by being burned on the skin as a cauterizing agent or counterirritant for the skin

2. any of various plants yielding this material, such as the wormwood Artemisia chinensis

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• moxas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of moxa

1670–80; by uncertain mediation < Japanese mogusa, equivalent to mo ( y ) e burn + -gusa, combining form of kusa herb

Example Sentences

It is related of a vassal of Okitsugu that he was found one day with three high officials of the shogun's court busily engaged in applying a moxa to his foot.

From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by Brinkley, F. (Frank)

Acupuncture, or the introduction of needles into the living tissues for remedial purposes, was invented by the Japanese, as was the moxa, or the burning of the flesh for the same purpose.

From Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities by Botta, Anne C. Lynch

In asthma he was particularly successful with the moxa.

From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)

Larrey recommends with the same view, after the application of moxa, the use of the aq. ammoniæ.

From North American Medical and Surgical Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, July, 1826 by Bache, Franklin

He insisted that the moxa could be placed on almost any part of the body, though the contra indications he suggests show how far the men of his time went with its use.

From Psychotherapy by Walsh, James J. (James Joseph)