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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



97 words match “WEST INDIAN”

DRUMMER n.
A large West Indian cockroach (Blatta gigantea) which drums on woodwork, as a sexual call.
DUMB a.
mystic ceremonies, to discover their future husbands. Halliwell. -- Dumb cane (Bot.), a west Indian plant of the Arum family (Dieffenbachia seguina), which, when chewed, causes the tongue to swell, and destroys temporarily the power of speech. -- Dumb crambo. See under crambo. -- Dumb show. (a) Formerly, a part of…
DUTCHMAN n.
culiar double-spurred flowers. See Illust. of Dicentra. -- Dutchman's laudanum (Bot.), a West Indian passion flower (Passiflora Murucuja); also, its fruit. -- Dutchman's pipe (Bot.), an American twining shrub (Aristolochia Sipho). Its flowers have their calyx tubes curved like a tobacco pipe.
FIDDLEWOOD n.
The wood of several West Indian trees, mostly of the genus Citharexylum.
FOUNTAIN n.
pump which throws a jet, for watering plants, etc. -- Fountain shell (Zoöl.), the large West Indian conch shell (Strombus gigas). -- Fountain of youth, a mythical fountain whose waters were fabled to have the property of renewing youth.
FRANGIPANI; FRANGIPANNI n.
A perfume derived from, or imitating the odor of, the flower of the red jasmine, a West Indian tree of the genus Plumeria.
GALAPEE TREE n.
The West Indian Sciadophyllum Brownei, a tree with very large digitate leaves.
GALLIWASP n.
A West Indian lizard (Celestus occiduus), about a foot long, imagined by the natives to be venomous.
GENIP; GENIP TREE n.
The West Indian sapindaceous tree Melicocca bijuga, which yields the honeyberry; also, the related trees Exothea paniculata and E. trifoliata.
GENIPAP n.
The edible fruit of a West Indian tree (Genipa Americana) of the order Rubiaceæ. It is oval in shape, as a large as a small orange, of a pale greenish color, and with dark purple juice.
GORGONIA n.
genus of Gorgoniacea, formerly very extensive, but now restricted to such species as the West Indian sea fan (Gorgonia flabellum), sea plume (G. setosa), and other allied species having a flexible, horny axis.
GREEN a.
, having a greenish wood, used for rulers, turned and inlaid work, and in dyeing. (b) The West Indian green ebony. See Ebony. -- Green fire (Pyrotech.), a composition which burns with a green flame. It consists of sulphur and potassium chlorate, with some salt of barium (usually the nitrate), to which the color of the…
GROUND n.
k. -- Ground room, a room on the ground floor; a lower room. Tatler. -- Ground sea, the West Indian name for a swell of the ocean, which occurs in calm weather and without obvious cause, breaking on the shore in heavy roaring billows; -- called also rollers, and in Jamaica, the North sea. -- Ground sill. See Ground…
GRUGRU PALM n.
A West Indian name for several kinds of palm. See Macaw tree, under Macaw. [Written also grigri palm.]
HART-TONGUE; HART'S-TONGUE n.
A West Indian fern, the Polypodium Phyllitidis of Linnæus. It is also found in Florida.
HEDGEHOG n.
n sandy shores; burgrass (Cenchrus tribuloides). -- Hedgehog rat (Zoöl.), one of several West Indian rodents, allied to the porcupines, but with ratlike tails, and few quills, or only stiff bristles. The hedgehog rats belong to Capromys, Plagiodon, and allied genera. -- Hedgehog shell (Zoöl.), any spinose, marine, un…
HOGFISH n.
A large West Indian and Florida food fish (Lachnolæmus).
HOLLY n.
lm. Holly-leaved oak (Bot.), the black scrub oak. See Scrub oak. -- Holly rose (Bot.), a West Indian shrub, with showy, yellow flowers (Turnera ulmifolia). -- Sea holly (Bot.), a species of Eryngium. See Eryngium.
HOOP n.
s tail into its mouth, and rolls along with great velocity. -- Hoop tree (Bot.), a small West Indian tree (Melia sempervirens), of the Mahogany family.
HORSEMAN n.
A West Indian fish of the genus Eques, as the light-horseman (E. lanceolatus).
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