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Webster 1913 Edition

Lignum-vitae

‖

Lig′num-vi′tae

(lĭg′nŭm vī′tē)
,
Noun.
[L., wood of life;
lignum
wood +
vita
, genitive
vitæ
, life.]
(Bot.)
A tree (
Guaiacum officinale
) found in the warm latitudes of America, from which the
guaiacum
of medicine is procured. Its wood is very hard and heavy, and is used for various mechanical purposes, as for the wheels of ships’ blocks, cogs, bearings, and the like. See
Guaiacum
.
☞ In New Zealand the
Metrosideros buxifolia
is called lignum-vitæ, and in Australia a species of
Acacia
. The bastard lignum-vitæ is a West Indian tree (
Sarcomphalus laurinus
).

Webster 1828 Edition

Lignum-vitae

LIGNUM-VIT'AE

,
Noun.
[L.] Guaiacum or pockwood, a genus of plants, natives of warm climates. The common Lignumvitae is a native of the warm latitudes of America. If becomes a large tree, having a hard, brownish, brittle bark, and its wood firm, solid, ponderous, very resinous, of a blackish yellow color in the middle, and of a hot aromatic taste. It is of considerable use in medicine and the mechanical arts, being wrought into utensils, wheels, cogs, and various articles of turnery.

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