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

bel·la·don·na

Audio Help [bel-uh-don-uh] Pronunciation Key

–noun

1.	Also called deadly nightshade. a poisonous plant, Atropa belladonna, of the nightshade family, having purplish-red flowers and black berries.

2.	Pharmacology. a drug from the leaves and root of this plant, containing atropine and related alkaloids: used in medicine to check secretions and spasms, to relieve pain or dizziness, and as a cardiac and respiratory stimulant.

[Origin: 1590–1600; < It bella donna lit., fair lady (so called because it is said to have been used by women to dilate the pupils of the eyes and to create an artificial pallor). See belle, donna

]

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

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
belladonna

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

bel·la·don·na Audio Help (běl'ə-dŏn'ə) Pronunciation Key
n.

A poisonous Eurasian perennial herb (Atropa belladonna) having usually solitary, nodding, purplish-brown, bell-shaped flowers and glossy black berries. Also called deadly nightshade.
An alkaloidal extract or tincture derived from this plant and used in medicine.

[Italian : bella, feminine of bello, beautiful (from Latin bellus; see deu-² in Indo-European roots) + donna, lady; see Donna.]

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

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
belladonna

1597, "deadly nightshade" (Atropa belladonna), from It., lit. "fair lady," supposedly because women made cosmetics from its juice (it has a well-known property of making the pupils of the eyes enlarge) or because it was used to poison beautiful women.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

belladonna
noun
1.	perennial Eurasian herb with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries; extensively grown in United States; roots and leaves yield atropine
2.	an alkaloidal extract or tincture of the poisonous belladonna plant that is used medicinally

The American Heritage Science Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

belladonna Audio Help (běl'ə-dŏn'ə) Pronunciation Key
A preparation of the dried leaves or roots of deadly nightshade or related plants in the genus Belladonna, once used as a medicine. Belladonna contains several alkaloids that affect the nervous system by blocking the effects of acetylcholine.

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

Belladonna

Bel`la*don"na\, n. [It., literally fine lady; bella beautiful + donna lady.] (Bot.) (a) An herbaceous European plant (Atropa belladonna) with reddish bell-shaped flowers and shining black berries. The whole plant and its fruit are very poisonous, and the root and leaves are used as powerful medicinal agents. Its properties are largely due to the alkaloid atropine which it contains. Called also deadly nightshade. (b) A species of Amaryllis (A. belladonna); the belladonna lily.

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