Search Result for "unicorn_root":
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (1)

1. any of several perennials of the genus Aletris having grasslike leaves and bitter roots reputed to cure colic;
[syn: colicroot, colic root, crow corn, star grass, unicorn root]


The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Unicorn \U"ni*corn\, n. [OE. unicorne, F. unicorne, L. unicornis one-horned, having a single horn; unus one + cornu a horn; cf. L. unicornuus a unicorn. See One, and Horn.] 1. A fabulous animal with one horn; the monoceros; -- often represented in heraldry as a supporter. [1913 Webster] 2. A two-horned animal of some unknown kind, so called in the Authorized Version of the Scriptures. [1913 Webster] Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? --Job xxxix. 10. [1913 Webster] Note: The unicorn mentioned in the Scripture was probably the urus. See the Note under Reem. [1913 Webster] 3. (Zool.) (a) Any large beetle having a hornlike prominence on the head or prothorax. (b) The larva of a unicorn moth. [1913 Webster] 4. (Zool.) The kamichi; -- called also unicorn bird. [1913 Webster] 5. (Mil.) A howitzer. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] Fossil unicorn, or Fossil unicorn's horn (Med.), a substance formerly of great repute in medicine; -- named from having been supposed to be the bone or the horn of the unicorn. Unicorn fish, Unicorn whale (Zool.), the narwhal. Unicorn moth (Zool.), a notodontian moth (Coelodasys unicornis) whose caterpillar has a prominent horn on its back; -- called also unicorn prominent. Unicorn root (Bot.), a name of two North American plants, the yellow-flowered colicroot (Aletris farinosa) and the blazing star (Chamaelirium luteum). Both are used in medicine. Unicorn shell (Zool.), any one of several species of marine gastropods having a prominent spine on the lip of the shell. Most of them belong to the genera Monoceros and Leucozonia. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Colicroot \Col"ic*root`\, n. A bitter American herb of the Bloodwort family, with the leaves all radical, and the small yellow or white flowers in a long spike (Aletris farinosa and Aletris aurea). Called sometimes star grass, blackroot, blazing star, and unicorn root. [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

unicorn root n 1: any of several perennials of the genus Aletris having grasslike leaves and bitter roots reputed to cure colic [syn: colicroot, colic root, crow corn, star grass, unicorn root]