Adjacent Words

Ergot definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

ERGOT, n. In farriery, a stub, like a piece of soft horn, about the bigness of a chestnut, situated behind and below the pastern joint, and commonly hid under the tuft of the fetloc.
1. A morbid excrescence in grain; a dark colored shoot, often an inch long, from the ears of grain, particularly of rye.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a plant disease caused by the ergot fungus
2: a fungus that infects various cereal plants forming compact black masses of branching filaments that replace many grains of the plant; source of medicinally important alkaloids and of lysergic acid [syn: ergot, Claviceps purpurea]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: French, literally, cock's spur Date: 1683 1. the black or dark purple sclerotium of fungi (genus Claviceps) that occurs as a club-shaped body replacing the seed of a grass (as rye); also a fungus bearing ergots 2. a disease of rye and other cereals caused by an ergot fungus 3. a. the dried sclerotia of an ergot fungus grown on rye and containing several alkaloids (as ergonovine and ergotamine) b. any of such alkaloids used medicinally for their contractile effect on smooth muscle (as of the uterus and or blood vessels) • ergotic adjective

Britannica Concise

Disease of cereal grasses, especially rye, caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. An ear of rye infected with ergot exudes a sweet, yellowish mucus. Ergot is the source of drugs used to control postpartum hemorrhage and to treat migraine headaches. Lysergic acid, from which the powerful hallucinogen LSD is synthesized, comes from ergot. Taking an overdose of ergot-derived medications or eating flour milled from ergot-infected rye can cause ergotism (also called St. Anthony's Fire) in humans and livestock; symptoms may include convulsions, miscarriages in females, and dry gangrene, and may result in death.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a disease of rye and other cereals caused by the fungus Claviceps purpurea. 2 a this fungus. b the dried spore-containing structures of this, used as a medicine to aid childbirth. Etymology: F f. OF argot cock's spur, from the appearance produced

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ergot Er"got, n. [F. ergot, argot, lit., a spur.] 1. A diseased condition of rye and other cereals, in which the grains become black, and often spur-shaped. It is caused by a parasitic fungus, Claviceps purpurea. 2. The mycelium or spawn of this fungus infecting grains of rye and wheat. It is a powerful remedial agent, and also a dangerous poison, and is used as a means of hastening childbirth, and to arrest bleeding. 3. (Far.) A stub, like soft horn, about the size of a chestnut, situated behind and below the pastern joint. 4. (Anat.) See 2d Calcar, 3 (b) .

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

2. (Zo["o]l.) A genus of lophobranch fishes of several species in which the head and neck have some resemblance to those of a horse; -- called also sea horse. Note: They swim slowly, in an erect position, and often cling to seaweeds by means of the incurved prehensile tail. The male has a ventral pouch, in which it carries the eggs till hatched. 3. (Zo["o]l.) A name applied to either of two ridges of white matter in each lateral ventricle of the brain. The larger is called hippocampus major or simply hippocampus. The smaller, hippocampus minor, is called also ergot and calcar.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Spurred rye.