saponaria officinalis

5 definitions found

saponaria officinalis - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Fuller \Full"er\, n. [AS. fullere, fr. L. fullo. See Full, v.
     t.]
     One whose occupation is to full cloth.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Fuller's earth, a variety of clay, used in scouring and
        cleansing cloth, to imbibe grease.
  
     Fuller's herb (Bot.), the soapwort (Saponaria  officinalis
        ), formerly used to remove stains from cloth.
        
  
     Fuller's thistle or Fuller's weed (Bot.), the teasel
        (Dipsacus fullonum) whose burs are used by fullers in
        dressing cloth. See Teasel.
        [1913 Webster]

  Saponin \Sap"o*nin\, n. [L. sapo, -onis soap: cf. F. saponine.]
     (Chem.)
     A poisonous glucoside found in many plants, as in the root of
     soapwort (Saponaria officinalis), in the bark of soap bark
     (Quillaja saponaria), etc. It is extracted as a white
     amorphous powder, which produces a soapy lather in solution,
     and produces a local anaesthesia. It is used as a detergent
     and for emulsifying oils. Formerly called also struthiin,
     quillaiin, senegin, polygalic acid, etc. By extension,
     any one of a group of related bodies of which saponin proper
     is the type.
     [1913 Webster + PJC]

  Soapwort \Soap"wort`\, n. (Bot.)
     A common plant (Saponaria officinalis) of the Pink family;
     -- so called because its bruised leaves, when agitated in
     water, produce a lather like that from soap. Called also
     Bouncing Bet.
     [1913 Webster]

  Bouncing \Boun"cing\, a.
     1. Stout; plump and healthy; lusty; buxom.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Many tall and bouncing young ladies.  --Thackeray.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Excessive; big. "A bouncing reckoning." --B. & Fl.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Bouncing Bet (Bot.), the common soapwort (Saponaria  officinalis
        ). --Harper's Mag.
        [1913 Webster]

saponaria officinalis - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  Saponaria officinalis
      n 1: plant of European origin having pink or white flowers and
           leaves yielding a detergent when bruised [syn: soapwort,
           hedge pink, bouncing Bet, bouncing Bess, Saponaria officinalis
           ]