upas
Americannoun
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the poisonous milky sap of a large tree, Antiaris toxicaria, of the mulberry family, native to tropical Asia, Africa, and the Philippine Islands, used for arrow poison.
-
the tree itself.
noun
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a large moraceous tree of Java, Antiaria toxicaria, having whitish bark and poisonous milky sap
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the sap of this tree, used as an arrow poison
Etymology
Origin of upas
1775–85; < Javanese: poison, especially dart poison
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.
From upas to coco de mer, an arboreal odyssey.
From Nature ● Jun. 5, 2018
I had been reared, so to speak, in the fatal shade of that upas.
From My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands Dictated in My Seventy-Fourth Year by George Francis Train
This was the only specimen of the upas tree that I saw in Borneo.
From Borneo and the Indian Archipelago with drawings of costume and scenery by Frank Marryat
It is the upas tree, and it is all our fault.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
In two sessions two branches of the upas tree had been summarily cut off.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 5 English History by Various
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