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Webster 1913 Edition

euphrasy

eu′phra-sy

(ū′frȧ-sy̆)
,
Noun.
[NL.
euphrasia
, fr. Gr.
εὐφρασία
delight, fr.
εὐφραίνειν
to delight;
εὖ
well +
φρήν
heart, mind: cf. LL.
eufrasia
, F.
eufraise
.]
(Bot.)
The plant
eyebright
(
Euphrasia officionalis
), formerly regarded as beneficial in disorders of the eyes.
Then purged with
euphrasy
and rue
The visual nerve, for he had much to see.
Milton.

Webster 1828 Edition

Euphrasy

EU'PHRASY

,
Noun.
[According to DeTheis, this word is contracted from euphrosyne, joy, pleasure; a name given to the plant on account of its wonderful effects in curing disorders of the eyes.]
Eyebright, a genus of plants, Euphrasia, called in French casse-lunette.

Definition 2024

euphrasy

euphrasy

English

Noun

euphrasy ‎(plural euphrasies)

  1. The eyebright, Euphrasia officinalis.
    • 1913, Edmund Gosse, Gossip in a Library:
      In these delightful moments, released from the burden of her tyrant malady, her eyes seem to have been touched with the herb euphrasy, and she has the gift, denied to the rest of her generation, of seeing nature and describing what she sees.
    • 1885, May Kendall and Andrew Lang, 'That Very Mab':
      On the next morning any one whose eyes were purged with euphrasy and rue might have observed an owl and a fairy queen fluttering in the smoky air above Burlington House.
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost:
      But to nobler sights Michael from Adam's eyes the film removed, Which that false fruit that promised clearer sight Had bred; then purged with euphrasy and rue The visual nerve, for he had much to see; And from the well of life three drops instilled.

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