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.
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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
The juice procured by incisions in the bark was called by the natives upas or oupas, and was of so active a nature that it caused immediate death when thrown into the circulation.
From Curiosities of Medical Experience by J. G. (John Gideon) Millingen
A third branch of the upas tree of poisonous ascendency described by Mr. Gladstone during the election of 1868, still awaited his axe.
From The Life of William Ewart Gladstone (Vol 2 of 3) by John Morley
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
"Did Sir Within strike you as looking so very ill—so much cut upas Mr. Grenfell phrases it?"
From Luttrell Of Arran Complete by Charles James Lever
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
