alkanet

American  

[al-kuh-net] / ˈæl kəˌnɛt /

noun

1. a European plant, Alkanna tinctoria, of the borage family.

2. the root of this plant, yielding a red dye.

3. the dye itself.

4. any of several similar hairy plants, as the bugloss, Anchusa officinalis, or a puccoon of the genus Lithospermum.

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alkanet British  

/ ˈælkəˌnɛt /

noun

1. a European boraginaceous plant, Alkanna tinctoria, the roots of which yield a red dye

2. Also called: anchusin.   alkannin.  the dye obtained from this plant

3. any of certain hairy blue-flowered Old World plants of the boraginaceous genus Anchusa (or Pentaglottis ), such as A. sempervirens of Europe See also bugloss

4. another name for puccoon

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Etymology

Origin of alkanet

1300–50; Middle English < Old Spanish alcaneta, equivalent to alcan ( a ) henna (plant) (< Medieval Latin alchanna < Arabic al the + hinnā̉ henna) + -eta diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

For rosy cheeks, alkanet and cochineal roots were used as the basis for rouge.

From BBC • May 10, 2013

The antimony, too, with which she darkened them had gone, and with it the alkanet she had used on her cheeks.

From Mary Magdalen by Saltus, Edgar

Cochineal is turned by the potassa to a violet-red, orchil to a violet-blue, and alkanet to a decided blue.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882 by Various

Logwood violet is browned; that of orchil, if slightly reddish, is turned to a blue-violet; that of alkanet is modified to a fine blue.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882 by Various

The ancients deemed this plant one of the four "cordial flowers," for cheering the spirits, the others being the rose, violet, and alkanet.

From Men and Women by Porter, Charlotte Endymion