upas

American  

[yoo-puhs] / ˈyu pəs /

noun

1. 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.

2. the tree itself.

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upas British  

/ ˈjuːpəs /

noun

1. a large moraceous tree of Java, Antiaria toxicaria, having whitish bark and poisonous milky sap

2. the sap of this tree, used as an arrow poison

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Etymology

Origin of upas

1775–85; < Javanese: poison, especially dart poison

Example Sentences

From upas to coco de mer, an arboreal odyssey.

From Nature • Jun. 5, 2018

Another was that Britain's tax, although set upas an import duty, seemed in effect an income tax�and therefore in violation of an Anglo-American agreement designed to prevent double taxation on incomes.

From Time Magazine Archive

A strip of upas bark twisted round the head bestows the finishing touch to the Sakais' toilet.

From My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) by Sanpietro, I. Stone

It all happened ages ago, and though the name of Lokman has lived always through them, so has the shadow of the upas tree.

From A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century by Saintsbury, George

She emanated poison as nightshade emanates it, the upas tree.

From The Million Dollar Mystery Novelized from the Scenario of F. Lonergan by MacGrath, Harold