adam's needle

3 definitions found

adam's needle - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Adam \Ad"am\, n.
     1. The name given in the Bible to the first man, the
        progenitor of the human race.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (As a symbol) "Original sin;" human frailty.
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              And whipped the offending Adam out of him. --Shak.
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     Adam's ale, water. [Coll.]
  
     Adam's apple.
  
     1. (Bot.)
        (a) A species of banana (Musa paradisiaca). It attains a
            height of twenty feet or more. --Paxton.
        (b) A species of lime (Citris limetta).
  
     2. The projection formed by the thyroid cartilage in the
        neck. It is particularly prominent in males, and is so
        called from a notion that it was caused by the forbidden
        fruit (an apple) sticking in the throat of our first
        parent.
  
     Adam's flannel (Bot.), the mullein (Verbascum thapsus).
        
  
     Adam's needle (Bot.), the popular name of a genus (Yucca)
        of liliaceous plants.
        [1913 Webster]

  Yucca \Yuc"ca\, n. [NL., from Yuca, its name in St. Domingo.]
     (Bot.)
     A genus of American liliaceous, sometimes arborescent, plants
     having long, pointed, and often rigid, leaves at the top of a
     more or less woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy
     white blossoms.
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     Note: The species with more rigid leaves (as Yucca aloifolia
           , Yucca Treculiana, and Yucca baccata)
           are called Spanish bayonet, and one with softer
           leaves (Yucca filamentosa) is called bear grass,
           and Adam's needle.
           [1913 Webster]
  
     Yucca moth (Zool.), a small silvery moth (Pronuba  yuccasella
        ) whose larvae feed on plants of the genus
        Yucca.
        [1913 Webster]

adam's needle - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Adam's needle
      n 1: yucca with long stiff leaves having filamentlike appendages
           [syn: Adam's needle, Adam's needle-and-thread,
           spoonleaf yucca, needle palm, Yucca filamentosa]