DEADLY NIGHTSHADE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Deadly nightshade

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/dˈɛdli nˈaɪtʃˌeɪd/ Listen

noun

Nightshade n. (Bot.) A common name of many species of the genus Solanum, given esp. to the Solanum nigrum, or black nightshade, a low, branching weed with small white flowers and black berries reputed to be poisonous.

Deadly nightshade. Same as Belladonna (a).

Enchanter's nightshade. See under Enchanter.

Stinking nightshade. See Henbane.

Three-leaved nightshade. See Trillium.

adjective

deadly adj.

Capable of causing death; mortal; fatal; destructive; certain or likely to cause death; as, a deadly blow or wound.

Aiming or willing to destroy; implacable; desperately hostile; flagitious; as, deadly enemies. "Thy assailant is quick, skillful, and deadly."

Subject to death; mortal. (Obs.) "The image of a deadly man."

Deadly nightshade (Bot.), a poisonous plant; belladonna. See under Nightshade.

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Etymology of 'Deadly nightshade'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Deadly nightshade" Quotes from Famous Books

... salubrious labels, "The Poor Man's Friend," or "The Rights of Labour," you could no more have found one of them lurking in the drawers of the kitchen dressers in Hazeldean than you would have found the deadly nightshade on the flower-stands in the drawing-room of the Hall. As for the revolutionary beerhouse, there was no need to apply to the magistrates to shut it up,—it shut itself up before the week ...

— My Novel, Complete • Edward Bulwer-Lytton

... belladonna (deadly nightshade) Poisonous Eurasian perennial herb (Atropa belladonna) with solitary, nodding, purplish-brown, bell-shaped flowers and glossy black berries. An alkaloidal extract of ...

— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... crystalline, bitter and poisonous alkaloid, taken from the deadly nightshade, and the same principle is also found in the ...

— The Wonder Island Boys: Adventures on Strange Islands • Roger Thompson Finlay

... suspect | The hand of that sleek serpent Niccolo | Machiavelli.—SAV. and LUC. rush down c., but find their way barred by the footlights.—LUC. We will not be ta'en Alive. And here availeth us my lore | In what pertains to poison. Yonder herb | [points to a herb growing down r.] Is deadly nightshade. Quick, Monk! Pluck we it!—SAV. and LUC. die just as POPE appears over ridge, followed by retinue in full cry.—POPE'S annoyance at being foiled is quickly swept away on the great wave of Shakespearean chivalry and charity that again rises in him. He gives SAV. a funeral oration similar to ...

— Seven Men • Max Beerbohm

... which fall from it, are so caustic as to blister the skin, and produce dangerous ulcers; whence many have found their death by sleeping under its shade. Variety of noxious plants abound in all countries; in our own the deadly nightshade, henbane, hounds-tongue, and many others, are seen in almost every high road untouched by animals. Some have asked, what is the use of such abundance of poisons? The nauseous or pungent juices of some vegetables, like the thorns of others, are given them for their defence from the depredations of ...

— The Botanic Garden. Part II. - Containing The Loves of the Plants. A Poem. - With Philosophical Notes. • Erasmus Darwin