Search the Dictionary

The soft, pulpy substance of fruit; also, that part of a root, fruit, and the like, which is fit to be eaten.

A word formed in accordance with some rule or usage, as from a root.

To search for gold by picking at stone or earth or among roots in isolated spots, picking over abandoned workings, etc.; hence, to steal gold or auriferous matter from another's claim. [Australia]

etable organism; as, the function of the heart or the limbs; the function of leaves, sap, roots, etc.; life is the sum of the functions of the various organs and parts of the body.

s war. Shak. Some fundamental antithesis in nature. Whewell. Fundamental bass (Mus.), the root note of a chord; a bass formed of the roots or fundamental tones of the chords. -- Fundamental chord (Mus.), a chord, the lowest tone of which is its root. -- Fundamental colors, red, green, and violet-blue. See Primary col…

Resembling a cord in toughness and flexibility, as the roots of some endogenous trees.

Shaped like a spindle; tapering at each end; as, a fusiform root; a fusiform cell.

A plant of the Sedge family (Cyperus longus) having aromatic roots; also, any plant of the same genus. Chaucer. Meadow, set with slender galingale. Tennyson.

The tendency of a root to place its axis in the line of a galvanic current.

A plant of the genus Allium (A. sativum is the cultivated variety), having a bulbous root, a very strong smell, and an acrid, pungent taste. Each root is composed of several lesser bulbs, called cloves of garlic, inclosed in a common membranous coat, and easily separable.

discover of the Gasserian ganglion. Gasserian ganglion (Anat.), a large ganglion, at the root of the trigeminal, or fifth cranial, nerve.

The root of the yellow jasmine, used in malarial fevers, etc.

The principal sound or sounds by which others are produced; the fundamental note or root of the common chord; -- called also generating tone.

A valuable astringet obtained from the root of the Geranium maculatum or crane's-bill.

The hot and spicy rootstock of Zingiber officinale, which is much used in cookery and in medicine. Ginger beer or ale, a mild beer impregnated with ginger. -- Ginger cordial, a liquor made from ginger, raisins, lemon rind, and water, and sometimes whisky or brandy. -- Ginger pop. See Ginger beer (above). -- Ginger w…

A plant of the genus Aralia, the root of which is highly valued as a medicine among the Chinese. The Chinese plant (Aralia Schinseng) has become so rare that the American (A. quinquefolia) has largely taken its place, and its root is now an article of export from America to China. The root, when dry, is of a yellowish…

A genus of plants having bulbous roots and gladiate leaves, and including many species, some of which are cultivated and valued for the beauty of their flowers; the corn flag; the sword lily.

ionaceous herbaceous plants, one species of which (G. glabra), is the licorice plant, the roots of which have a bittersweet mucilaginous taste.

A glucoside found in licorice root (Glycyrrhiza), in monesia bark (Chrysophyllum), in the root of the walnut, etc., and extracted as a yellow, amorphous powder, of a bittersweet taste.

. (b) (Bot.) A small evergreen plant (Coptis trifolia), so called from its fibrous yellow roots. It is common in marshy places in the United States. -- Gold tissue, a tissue fabric interwoven with gold thread. -- Gold tooling, the fixing of gold leaf by a hot tool upon book covers, or the ornamental impression so mad…