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noun

Guaiacum n.

(Bot.) A genus of small, crooked trees, growing in tropical America.

The heart wood or the resin of the Guaiacum officinale or lignum-vitae, a large tree of the West Indies and Central America. It is much used in medicine. (Written also guaiac)

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Etymology of 'Guaiacum'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Guaiacum" Quotes from Famous Books

... among the Indians, and had nothing to do with amulets, powwows, or spirits.[265-2] They were of different name and standing, and though held in less estimation, such valuable additions to the pharmacopoeia as guaiacum, cinchona, and ipecacuanha, were learned from them. The priesthood scorned such ignoble means. Were they summoned to a patient, they drowned his groans in a barbarous clangor of instruments in order to fright away the demon that possessed him; they sucked ...

— The Myths of the New World - A Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red Race of America • Daniel G. Brinton

... wood, obtained from 'Guaiacum offcinale', from which pestles, ship-blocks, rollers, ...

— Diary of Samuel Pepys, Complete • Samuel Pepys

Words linked to "Guaiacum" : lignum vitae, guaiacum wood, genus Guaiacum, Guaiacum officinale, Guaiacum sanctum, family Zygophyllaceae