Search Result for "cantharis": 

The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Blister \Blis"ter\, n. [OE.; akin to OD. bluyster, fr. the same root as blast, bladder, blow. See Blow to eject wind.] 1. A vesicle of the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn or other injury, or by a vesicatory; a collection of serous fluid causing a bladderlike elevation of the cuticle. [1913 Webster] And painful blisters swelled my tender hands. --Grainger. [1913 Webster] 2. Any elevation made by the separation of the film or skin, as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel. [1913 Webster] 3. A vesicatory; a plaster of Spanish flies, or other matter, applied to raise a blister. --Dunglison. [1913 Webster] Blister beetle, a beetle used to raise blisters, esp. the Lytta vesicatoria (or Cantharis vesicatoria), called Cantharis or Spanish fly by druggists. See Cantharis. Blister fly, a blister beetle. Blister plaster, a plaster designed to raise a blister; -- usually made of Spanish flies. Blister steel, crude steel formed from wrought iron by cementation; -- so called because of its blistered surface. Called also blistered steel. Blood blister. See under Blood. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Cantharis \Can"tha*ris\ (k[a^]n"th[.a]*r[i^]s), n.; pl. Cantharides (k[a^]n*th[a^]r"[i^]*d[=e]z). [L., a kind of beetle, esp. the Spanish fly, Gr. kanqari`s.] (Zool.) A beetle (Lytta vesicatoria, syn. Cantharis vesicatoria), having an elongated cylindrical body of a brilliant green color, and a nauseous odor; the blister fly or blister beetle, of the apothecary; -- also called Spanish fly. Many other species of Lytta, used for the same purpose, take the same name. See Blister beetle, under Blister. The plural form in usually applied to the dried insects used in medicine. [1913 Webster]