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

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

The ipok called "upas" by the Malays and "antiaris toxicaria" by botanists is a tree which supplies a poisonous juice to the Sakais of the plain.

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