elaterium

British  

/ ˌɛləˈtɪərɪəm /

noun

1. a greenish sediment prepared from the juice of the squirting cucumber, used as a purgative

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Etymology

Origin of elaterium

C16: from Latin, from Greek elatērion squirting cucumber, from elatērios purgative, from elaunein to drive

Example Sentences

It forms colourless scales which have a bitter taste, but it is highly inadvisable to taste either this substance or elaterium.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various

Amid the wayside rubbish grows one of the gourd family, Ecbalium elaterium, commonly called the squirting cucumber, whose fruit—a rough and extremely bitter little cucumber—is the size of a date. 

From The Life of the Spider by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander

Elaterin is extracted from elaterium by chloroform and then precipitated by ether.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 2 "Ehud" to "Electroscope" by Various

Now may he invoke the virtues of the hellebores, the white and the black, now may he use elaterium.

From History of the Intellectual Development of Europe, Volume I (of 2) Revised Edition by Draper, John William

He was likewise purged by a bolus of argent. viv. jallap, Digit. elaterium and calomel, which was repeated on the fourth day, to the third time.

From An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases by Withering, William