Word Study
nightshade
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun nightshade has 1 sense
- nightshade(n = noun.plant) Array - any of numerous shrubs or herbs or vines of the genus Solanum; most are poisonous though many bear edible fruit; Array is a member of genus solanum, solanum
has particulars: kangaroo apple, poroporo, solanum aviculare, ball nettle, ball nightshade, bull nettle, horse nettle, solanum carolinense, bittersweet, bittersweet nightshade, climbing nightshade, deadly nightshade, poisonous nightshade, solanum dulcamara, woody nightshade, prairie berry, purple nightshade, silver-leaved nettle, silver-leaved nightshade, silverleaf nightshade, solanum elaeagnifolium, trompillo, white horse nettle, african holly, solanum giganteum, black nightshade, common nightshade, poison-berry, poisonberry, solanum nigrum, jerusalem cherry, madeira winter cherry, solanum pseudocapsicum, winter cherry, buffalo bur, solanum rostratum
is a kind of ligneous plant, woody plant
CIDE DICTIONARY
nightshade, n. [AS. nichtscadu.].
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. [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
nightshade, n. any of various poisonous plants, esp. of the genus Solanum, including S. nigrum (black nightshade) with black berries, and S. dulcamara (woody nightshade) with red berries.
Idiom
deadly nightshade = BELLADONNA.
Etymology
OE nihtscada app. formed as NIGHT + SHADE, prob. with ref. to its poisonous properties
ROGET THESAURUS
nightshade
Bane
N bane, curse, evil, hurtfulness, painfulness, scourge, damnosa hereditas, white elephant, sting, fang, thorn, tang, bramble, brier, nettle, poison, toxin, teratogen, leaven, virus venom, arsenic, antimony, tartar emetic, strychnine, nicotine, miasma, miasm, mephitis, malaria, azote, sewer gas, pest, Albany hemp, arsenious oxide, arsenious acid, bichloride of mercury, carbonic acid, carbonic gas, choke damp, corrosive sublimate, fire damp, hydrocyanic acid, cyanide, Prussic acid, hydrogen cyanide, marsh gas, nux vomica, ratsbane, hemlock, hellebore, nightshade, belladonna, henbane, aconite, banewort, bhang, ganja, hashish, Upas tree, Toxline (online), rust, worm, helminth, moth, moth and rust, fungus, mildew, dry rot, canker, cankerworm, cancer, torpedo, viper, demon, toxicology, baneful, poisonous, phr, bibere venenum in auro, Contingent Subservience.
For further exploring for "nightshade" in Webster Dictionary Online
