Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Gentian

Gen′tian

(jĕn′shan or jĕn′shĭ-an)
,
Noun.
[OE.
genciane
, F.
gentiane
, L.
gentiana
, fr.
Gentius
, an Illyrian king, said to have discovered its properties.]
(Bot.)
Any one of a genus (
Gentiana
) of herbaceous plants with opposite leaves and a tubular four- or five-lobed corolla, usually blue, but sometimes white, yellow, or red. See Illust. of
Capsule
.
☞ Many species are found on the highest mountains of Europe, Asia, and America, and some are prized for their beauty, as the Alpine (
Gentiana verna
,
Gentiana Bavarica
, and
Gentiana excisa
), and the American fringed gentians (
Gentiana crinita
and
Gentiana detonsa
). Several are used as tonics, especially the bitter roots of
Gentiana lutea
, the officinal gentian of the pharmacopoeias.
Horse gentian
,
fever root.
–
Yellow gentian
(Bot.)
,
the officinal gentian (
Gentiana lutea
). See
Bitterwort
.

Webster 1828 Edition

Gentian

GEN'TIAN

,
Noun.
[L. gentiana.] A genus of plants, of many species. The common gentian is a native of the mountainous parts of Germany. The root,the only part used, has a yellowish brown color and a very bitter taste, and is used as an ingredient in stomachic bitters. It is sometimes called felwort.

Definition 2024

Gentian

Gentian

Albanian

Alternative forms

Proper noun

Gentian m

  1. A male given name
Related terms

gentian

gentian

See also: Gentian

English

Gentiana brachyphylla, a gentian.

Wikispecies

Noun

gentian ‎(plural gentians)

  1. Any of various herbs of the family Gentianaceae found in temperate and mountainous regions with violet or blue flowers.
    • 1956, Delano Ames, Crime out of Mind,, chapter 1:
      On the cover of the leaflet advertising the Alpenrose Gasthof in Zirl am Gurgl […] there is a decorative picture of a young woman. […] She has bright flaxen hair and laughing eyes of the same hue as the gentians in the meadow beyond the inn.
  2. The dried roots and rhizome of a European gentian, Gentiana lutea, used as a tonic.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

References

  1. ↑ Fowler, H.W., A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford Univ. Press, 1926.

Etymology

A variant of Gent.

Similar Results