ouabain

[wah-bah-in]

noun Pharmacology.

a glycoside occurring as a white, crystalline powder, C29H44O12, obtained from the seeds of a shrub, Strophanthus gratus, or from the wood of trees of the genus Acokanthera, and used in medicine chiefly as a cardiac stimulant.

Origin of ouabain

1890–95; < French ouaba(ïo) (< Somali waabayyo arrow poison) + -in²

Also called G-strophanthin.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for ouabain

ouabain

noun

a poisonous white crystalline glycoside extracted from certain trees and used as a heart stimulant and, by some African tribes, on poison darts. Formula: C 29 H 44 O 12 .8H 2 O

Word Origin for ouabain

C19: from French ouabaïo, from Somali waba yo native name of tree

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

Medicine definitions for ouabain

ouabain

[wä-bā′ĭn]

n.

A white poisonous glycoside extracted from the seeds of the African trees Strophanthus gratus and Acokanthera ouabaio and used as a heart stimulant.