lignum : Idioms & Phrases

• noun small evergreen tree of the southern United States and West Indies a source of lignum vitae wood
  Guaiacum sanctum.
  

WordNet

Lig"num rho"di*um

Etymology

NL., fr. L. lignum wood + Gr. a rose.

Definitions

1. (Bot.) The fragrant wood of several shrubs and trees, especially of species of Rhodorhiza from the Canary Islands, and of the West Indian Amyris balsamifera.

Webster 1913

• noun hard greenish-brown wood of the lignum vitae tree and other trees of the genus Guaiacum
  guaiac; guaiacum.
  
• noun small evergreen tree of Caribbean and southern Central America to northern South America; a source of lignum vitae wood, hardest of commercial timbers, and a medicinal resin
  Guaiacum officinale.
  

WordNet

Lig"num-vi"tae noun

Etymology

L., wood of life; lignum wood + vita, genitive vitæ, life.

Definitions

1. (Bot.) A tree (Guaiacum officinale) found in the warm latitudes of America, from which the guaiacum of medicine is procured. Its wood is very hard and heavy, and is used for various mechanical purposes, as for the wheels of ships' blocks, cogs, bearings, and the like. See Guaiacum. ✍ In New Zealand the Metrosideros buxifolia is called lignum-vitæ, and in Australia a species of Acacia. The bastard lignum-vitæ is a West Indian tree (Sarcomphalus laurinus).

Webster 1913