Lexic.us

Definition of Oleander

1. Noun. An ornamental but poisonous flowering shrub having narrow evergreen leaves and clusters of fragrant white to pink or red flowers: native to East Indies but widely cultivated in warm regions.

Definition of Oleander

1. n. A beautiful evergreen shrub of the Dogbane family, having clusters of fragrant red or white flowers. It is native of the East Indies, but the red variety has become common in the south of Europe. Called also rosebay, rose laurel, and South-sea rose.

Definition of Oleander

1. Noun. (botany) ''Nerium oleander'', a notoriously poisonous shrub in the dogbane family, ''Apocynaceae'', but nonetheless widely grown as an ornamental. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Oleander

1. a flowering shrub [n -S]

Medical Definition of Oleander

1. A beautiful evergreen shrub of the Dogbane family, having clusters of fragrant red or white flowers. It is native of the East Indies, but the red variety has become common in the south of Europe. Called also rosebay, rose laurel, and South-sea rose. Every part of the plant is dangerously poisonous, and death has occured from using its wood for skewers in cooking meat. Origin: F. Oleandre (cf. It. Oleandro, LL. Lorandrum), prob. Corrupted, under the influence of laurus laurel, fr. L. Rhododendron, Gr.; rose + tree. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Lexicographical Neighbors of Oleander

Literary usage of Oleander

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. The American Cyclopaedia: A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge by Charles Anderson Dana (1875)
"There are Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and Universalist churches. Oldtown was separated from Orono in 1840. oleander (Fr. ..."

2. Cyclopedia of American Horticulture: Comprising Suggestions for Cultivation by Liberty Hyde Bailey, Wilhelm Miller (1901)
"The oleander is an old-fashioned evergreen shrub known to everybody, and cultivated ... The Bermudas, especially, are famous for their oleander hedges. ..."

3. Poisons: Their Effects and Detection by Alexander Wynter Blyth, Meredith Wynter Blyth (1906)
"oleander leaves contain two chemically-different, ... The active principles of the oleander are. separated by digestion of the leaves with alcohol of 50 ..."

4. A Manual of Pharmacodynamics by Richard Hughes (1870)
"The first is the laurel rose, Nerium oleander. The tincture is prepared from the fresh leaves. ... The list of symptoms obtained from oleander is not a ..."

5. The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon, Henry Hart Milman (1852)
"... and his authority higher than either of the other writers. He hints that oleander, a new favorite, had already undermined tlie influence of Perennis. ..."

Other Resources: