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A poisonous alkaloid obtained from the root hellebore (Veratrum) and from sabadilla seeds as a white crystalline powder, having an acrid, burning taste. It is sometimes used externally, as in ointments, in the local treatment of neuralgia and rheumatism. Called also veratria, and veratrina.

A glucoside extracted from the root of a South African plant of the genus Vernonia, as a deliquescent powder, and used as a mild heart tonic.

An East Indian grass (Andropogon muricatus); also, its fragrant roots which are much used for making mats and screens. Also called kuskus, and khuskhus. [Sometimes written vetivert, and vitivert.]

A glucoside extracted from the root of the white swallowwort (Vincetoxicum officinale, a plant of the Asclepias family) as a bitter yellow amorphous substance; -- called also asclepiadin, and cynanchin.

ls on the branches. (b) A clearwing moth (Ægeria polistiformis), whose larva bores in the roots of the grapevine and is often destructive. -- Vine dragon, an old and fruitless branch of a vine. [Obs.] Holland. -- Vine forester (Zoöl.), any one of several species of moths belonging to Alypia and allied genera, whose l…

ubstance of alkaloidal nature and emetic properties, said to have been extracted from the root and foliage of the violet (Viola).

rrow, entire leaves, and solitary heads of yellow flowers. The long, white, carrot-shaped roots are used for food in Spain and some other countries. Called also viper grass.

izophyllus); -- so called because the fronds taper into slender prolongations which often root at the apex, thus producing new plants. (b) (Zoöl.) A leaf insect. See under Leaf. -- Walking papers, or Walking ticket, an order to leave; dismissal, as from office. [Colloq.] Bartlett. -- Walking stick. (a) A stick or sta…

of Tradescantia, which have alternate, pointed leaves, and a soft, herbaceous stem which roots freely at the joints. They are commonly cultivated in hanging baskets, window boxes, etc. -- Wandering kidney (Med.), a morbid condition in which one kidney, or, rarely, both kidneys, can be moved in certain directions; --…

A sprig or shoot from the root or stock of a tree. [Obs.]

& n. from Weed, v. Weeding chisel, a tool with a divided chisel-like end, for cutting the roots of large weeds under ground. -- Weeding forceps, an instrument for taking up some sorts of plants in weeding. -- Weeding fork, a strong, three-pronged fork, used in clearing ground of weeds; -- called also weeding iron. -…

The bank of a river, or the shore of the sea. [Obs.] "The fat weed that roots itself in ease on Lethe wharf." Shak. Wharf boat, a kind of boat moored at the bank of a river, and used for a wharf, in places where the height of the water is so variable that a fixed wharf would be useless. [U. S.] Bartlett. -- Wharf rat.…

Shaped like the lash of a whip; long, slender, round, and tapering; as, a whip-shaped root or stem.

vortex of air. It usually has a rapid progressive motion. The swift dark whirlwind that uproots the woods. And drowns the villages. Bryant.

lt. -- White leg (Med.), milk leg. See under Milk. -- White lettuce (Bot.), rattlesnake root. See under Rattlesnake. -- White lie. See under Lie. -- White light. (a) (Physics) Light having the different colors in the same proportion as in the light coming directly from the sun, without having been decomposed, as by…

xposed when exposed to drought, or to great heat in a dry day, or when separated from its root; to droop;. to wither. [Prov. Eng. & U. S.]

the uncommon hardness of the integument. Wireworms are sometimes very destructive to the roots of plants. Called also wire grub.

ess; to become sapless; to become sapless; to dry or shrivel up. Shall he hot pull up the roots thereof, and cut off the fruit thereof, that it wither Ezek. xvii. 9.

y the common species (P. ursinus). They are nocturnal in their habits, and feed mostly on roots.

somewhat resembling fine wool or cotton. In exists in two forms, one of which infests the roots, the other the branches. See Illust. under Blight. -- Woolly macaco (Zoöl.), the mongoose lemur. -- Woolly maki (Zoöl.), a long-tailed lemur (Indris laniger) native of Madagascar, having fur somewhat like wool; -- called a…