digitalis
any plant belonging to the genus Digitalis, of the figwort family, especially the common foxglove, D. purpurea.
the dried leaves of the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, used in medicine as a heart stimulant.
Origin of digitalis
1Words Nearby digitalis
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use digitalis in a sentence
Its action on the circulation greatly resembles that of digitalis, but is more manageable.
This is just one expression of the folly which surrounded the use of digitalis at the time of its discovery.
Scientific American Supplement No. 299 | VariousThe normal digitalis flower has a large pendant purple corolla much spotted upon the middle lobe of the larger and lower lip.
digitalis, which you then considered as a more certain diuretic than any you had ever tried.
An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses | William WitheringIn something more than a year and a half, his dropsy returned, but the digitalis did not then succeed to our wishes.
An Account of the Foxglove and some of its Medical Uses | William Withering
British Dictionary definitions for digitalis
/ (ˌdɪdʒɪˈteɪlɪs) /
any Eurasian scrophulariaceous plant of the genus Digitalis, such as the foxglove, having bell-shaped flowers and a basal rosette of leaves
a drug prepared from the dried leaves or seeds of the foxglove: a mixture of glycosides used medicinally to treat heart failure and some abnormal heart rhythms
any cardiac glycoside, whatever its origin
Origin of digitalis
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for digitalis
[ dĭj′ĭ-tăl′ĭs ]
A drug prepared from the seeds and dried leaves of the purple foxglove, Digitalis purpurea, and prescribed as a cardiac stimulant in the treatment of congestive heart failure and other disorders of the heart.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse