Lungwort - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: Lungwort

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

lung·wort

Audio Help [luhng-wurt, -wawrt] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	a European plant, Pulmonaria officinalis, of the borage family, having blue flowers.

2.	any of various related plants of the genus Mertensia, as the North American M. virginica, having nodding clusters of blue flowers.

[Origin: bef. 1000; ME long-wort, lung-wort hellebore, OE lungen-wyrt; see lung, wort²

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Lungwort

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

lung·wort Audio Help (lŭng'wûrt', -wôrt') Pronunciation Key
n.

Any of various plants of the genus Mertensia, such as the Virginia cowslip, having drooping clusters of tubular, usually blue flowers.
Any of several European plants of the genus Pulmonaria, having long-stalked leaves and coiled clusters of blue or purple flowers and formerly used in treating respiratory disorders.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Main Entry: lung·wort
Pronunciation: -"w&rt, -"wo(&)rt
Function: noun
1 : any of several plants formerly used in the treatment ofrespiratory disorders; especially : a European herb (Pulmonaria officinalis) of the borage family (Boraginaceae) with rough hairy leaves and bluish flowers
2 : a widely distributed lichen (Lobaria pulmonaria) formerly used in the treatment of bronchitis and now to some extent in perfumes and in tanning extracts

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Lungwort

Lung\, n. [OE. lunge, AS. lunge, pl. lungen; akin to D. long, G. lunge, Icel. & Sw. lunga, Dan. lunge, all prob. from the root of E. light. ? See Light not heavy.] (Anat.) An organ for a["e]rial respiration; -- commonly in the plural.

My lungs began to crow like chanticleer. --Shak.

Note: In all air-breathing vertebrates the lungs are developed from the ventral wall of the esophagus as a pouch which divides into two sacs. In amphibians and many reptiles the lungs retain very nearly this primitive saclike character, but in the higher forms the connection with the esophagus becomes elongated into the windpipe and the inner walls of the sacs become more and more divided, until, in the mammals, the air spaces become minutely divided into tubes ending in small air cells, in the walls of which the blood circulates in a fine network of capillaries. In mammals the lungs are more or less divided into lobes, and each lung occupies a separate cavity in the thorax. See Respiration.

Lung fever (Med.), pneumonia.

Lung flower (Bot.), a species of gentian (G. Pneumonanthe).

Lung lichen (Bot.), tree lungwort. See under Lungwort.

Lung sac (Zo["o]l.), one of the breathing organs of spiders and snails.

On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

lungwort

lungwort: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

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