Adjacent Words

Agaric definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AG'ARIC, n. [Gr.]
In botany, mushroom, a genus of funguses, containing numerous species. Mushrooms grow on trees, or spring from the earth; of the latter species some are valued as articles of food; others are poisonous. The name was originally given to a fungus growing on the larch. This species is now frequent in the shops, and distinguished by the name of female agaric. From this fungus is extracted a turpentine, of which three fourths of its weight is a resinous substance; the rest, a slimy, mucilaginous, earthy matter, tenacious and almost insoluble in water. It is used in dyeing, but is little esteemed in medicine.
The Agaric of the oak is called touch-wood, from its readiness to take fire.
Agaric mineral, a calcarious earth, or carbonate of lime, resembling a fungus in color and texture; found in fissures of rocks, and on the roofs of caverns. It is sometimes used as an astringent in fluxes, and a styptic in hemorrhages. It occurs in a loose semi-indurated form, white or whitish red, or yellow, light and friable. Kirwan mentions three varieties.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: fungus used in the preparation of punk for fuses [syn: agaric, Fomes igniarius]
2: a saprophytic fungus of the order Agaricales having an umbrellalike cap with gills on the underside

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin agaricum, a fungus, from Greek agarikon Date: 15th century 1. the dried fruiting body of a fungus (Fomes officinalis syn. Polyporus officinalis) formerly used in medicine 2. any of a family (Agaricaceae) of fungi with the sporophore usually resembling an umbrella and with numerous gills on the underside of the cap

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. any fungus of the family Agaricaceae, with cap and stalk, including the common edible mushroom. Etymology: L agaricum f. Gk agarikon

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Agaric Ag"a*ric (?; 277), n. [L. agaricum, Gr. ?, said to be fr. Agara, a town in Sarmatia.] 1. (Bot.) A fungus of the genus Agaricus, of many species, of which the common mushroom is an example. 2. An old name for several species of Polyporus, corky fungi growing on decaying wood. Note: The ``female agaric'' (Polyporus officinalis) was renowned as a cathartic; the ``male agaric'' (Polyporus igniarius) is used for preparing touchwood, called punk or German tinder. Agaric mineral, a light, chalky deposit of carbonate of lime, sometimes called rock milk, formed in caverns or fissures of limestone.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Mushroom. 2. Touchwood, spunk, punk. 3. Mountain-milk, mountain-meal, native carbonate of lime. 4. Tuscan lime-stone, material for floating-brick.