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Astringent   Listen
noun
Astringent  n.  A medicine or other substance that produces contraction in the soft organic textures, and checks discharges of blood, mucus, etc. "External astringents are called styptics."






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Astringent" Quotes from Famous Books



... instances the fruit is too sour for use, unless for preserves. Crab apples are equally prolific, and make fine preserves with about double their bulk of sugar. Wild cherries are equally productive. The persimmon is a delicious fruit, after the frost has destroyed its astringent properties. The black mulberry grows in most parts, and is used for the feeding of silk-worms with success. They appear to thrive and spin as well as on the Italian mulberry. The gooseberry, strawberry, and blackberry, grow wild and in great profusion. Of our nuts, the hickory, black walnut, and ...
— A New Guide for Emigrants to the West • J. M. Peck

... throughout India. The tree is valued for its fruit, which is oblong to pyriform in shape, 2-5 in. in diameter, and has a grey or yellow rind and a sweet, thick orange-coloured pulp. The unripe fruit is cut up in slices, sun-dried and used as an astringent; the ripe fruit is described as sweet, aromatic and cooling. The wood is yellowish-white, and hard but not durable. The name Aegle is from one of the Hesperides, in reference to the golden fruit; marmelos ...
— Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 2 - "Baconthorpe" to "Bankruptcy" • Various

... century after the above was written. In the year 1590, when a severe shock of earthquake threatened destruction to the tower of the Cathedral—and it was absolutely necessary to set about immediate repairs—the liquid which was applied to make the most astringent mortar, was WINE: "l'on se servit de vin, qui fut alors en abondance, pour faire le platre de cette batise." Denkmahle der Baukunst und Bildneren des Mittelalters in dem Oesterreichischen Kaiserthume. Germ. Fr. Part ...
— A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany, Volume Three • Thomas Frognall Dibdin

... well to shut—at least, sometimes— The women up, because, in sad reality, Their chastity in these unhappy climes Is not a thing of that astringent quality Which in the North prevents precocious crimes, And makes our snow less pure than our morality; The sun, which yearly melts the polar ice, Has quite ...
— Don Juan • Lord Byron

... Lily Bart, the heroine of The House of Mirth. At least Undine is not sloppy or sentimental, and that is a distinct claim on the suffrages of the intelligent reader. Furthermore, the clear hard atmosphere of the book is tempered by a tragic and humorous irony, a welcome astringent for ...
— Ivory Apes and Peacocks • James Huneker

... according to the treatment given and the time devoted to it. Severe rubbing and rolling of the flesh between the fingers will gradually dissolve the fatty tissues. The flesh will then become soft and flabby, and the skin will be likely to fall into tiny lines unless an astringent wash, like weak alum water (used hot), is applied to tighten and harden it slightly, and so make the flesh firm. If the massage is continued, the flabby flesh will also be reduced, especially when the astringent wash is applied ...
— The Woman Beautiful - or, The Art of Beauty Culture • Helen Follett Stevans

... greeted him with an astringent "How d'you do, Mr. Babbitt. Tanis tells me you're a very prominent man, and I'm honored by being allowed to drive with you. Of course I'm not accustomed to associating with society people like you, so I don't know how to act ...
— Babbitt • Sinclair Lewis

... than not, will come another blessed two hours, or even more, of unconsciousness, before the first purple grey forecasts of a new day call me out into the bush for my morning lesson in serenity: Nature's astringent message to egoists and all the sedentary, introspective tribe, that bids us note our own infinite insignificance, our utter and microscopical unimportance in her great scheme of things, and her ...
— The Record of Nicholas Freydon - An Autobiography • A. J. (Alec John) Dawson

... overloading of the stomach, or sudden changes of diet may cause this disease. Want of exercise predisposes to it, or feed which is coarse and indigestible may after a time produce it. Feed which possesses astringent properties and tends to check secretion may also act as an exciting cause. Feed in excessive quantity may lead to disorder of digestion and to this disease. It is very likely to appear toward the end of protracted seasons of drought; therefore a deficiency ...
— Special Report on Diseases of Cattle • U.S. Department of Agriculture

... before him smiling rather uncertainly. The sweetness and cleanness of that smile after his recent ordeal washed over his tortured mind like a cooling astringent, and he smiled gratefully up at her. She put a cool palm on his forehead and as she started to withdraw it he clutched it in an emaciated fist and mumbled indistinctly through cracked ...
— Faithfully Yours • Lou Tabakow

... important element of the tea leaf, and it varies greatly in percentage in different teas, and increases with the age of the growing leaf. It is the cause of the rasping, puckering, astringent effect upon the tongue and interior ...
— Tea Leaves • Francis Leggett & Co.

... profitable trade in drugs—sassafras, for example—as a stimulus for exploration and colonization. Sassafras had market value as it was widely used in cases of dysentery, skin diseases, and as a stimulant and astringent; French warships searching for loot off the shores of the New World had often made it the cargo when richer prizes were not to ...
— Medicine in Virginia, 1607-1699 • Thomas P. Hughes

... comparatively recent introduction, the oldest trees being less than thirty years of age, but has already become widely distributed, as well as a favourite fruit amongst many. It is a very showy fruit when well grown, but must be thoroughly ripe before it is eaten, as, if not, it is extremely astringent, and anyone who has tackled an unripe fruit has no wish to repeat the experience in a hurry. There are many varieties of this fruit, some of which are seedless, and others more or less seedy. The seedless kinds are usually preferred, ...
— Fruits of Queensland • Albert Benson

... the exercise of their calling. They tan and dress leather with very great expedition, by steeping the hide first in a mixture of wood-ashes and water, until it parts with the hair; and afterwards by using the pounded leaves of a tree called goo, as an astringent. They are at great pains to render the hide as soft and pliant as possible, by rubbing it frequently between their hands, and beating it upon a stone. The hides of bullocks are converted chiefly into sandals, and therefore require less care in dressing than the skins of sheep ...
— Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa • Mungo Park

... unknown to me; and I have failed in searching for the word sabracia, which is not found in Ducange, or other glossaries of debased Latinity. Mr. Halliwell gives "Sabras, salve, plaster;" but he cites no authority. It appears, however, rather to signify a tonic or astringent solution than a salve. I have hitherto found it only in the following passage (Sloane MS. 73., f. 211., late xv. sec.) in a recipe for making "cheuerel lether of perchemyne." The directions are, that it be "basked to and fro" in a hot solution of "alome roche;—aftir ...
— Notes & Queries, No. 41, Saturday, August 10, 1850 • Various

... dusted over with very fine powder of gum sandarach, and then replaced. Astringent fomentations; as an infusion of oak-bark, or a slight solution of alum. Horizontal rest ...
— Zoonomia, Vol. II - Or, the Laws of Organic Life • Erasmus Darwin

... called "mositsane," and is a mere plant; here it becomes a tree, from fifteen to twenty feet high. The root is used for tanning; the bean is pounded, and then put into a sieve of bark cloth to extract, by repeated washings, the excessively astringent matter it contains. Where the people have plenty of water, as here, it is used copiously in various processes, among Bechuanas it is scarce, and its many uses unknown: the pod becomes from fifteen to eighteen inches long, and ...
— The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume I (of 2), 1866-1868 • David Livingstone

... the tall chimneys which dominate the village. The sidewalks in the more aristocratic quarter are covered with a thin, elastic paste of asphalte, worn down to the gravel in patches, and emitting in the heat of the day an astringent, bituminous odor. The population is chiefly of the rougher sort, such as breeds in the shadow of foundries and factories, and if the Protestant pastor and the fatherly Catholic priest, whose respective lots are cast there, have sometimes ...
— The Stillwater Tragedy • Thomas Bailey Aldrich

... Nettle is endowed in its stinging hairs with "formic acid," which avails to arrest bleeding; that Boxwood yields "buxine," a specific stimulant to those nerves of supply which command the hair bulbs; that Goosegrass or Clivers is of astringent benefit in cancer, because of its "tannic," "citric," and "rubichloric acids"; and that the Spider's Web is of real curative value in ague, because it affords an albuminous principle "allied ...
— Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure • William Thomas Fernie

... first nightingale I have heard this year is to-day (18th). There is a red wine of Nebiule made in this neighborhood, which is very singular. It is about as sweet as the silky Madeira, as astringent on the palate as Bordeaux, and as brisk as Champagne. It is a pleasing wine. At Moncaglieri, about six miles from Turin, on the right side of the Po, begins a ridge of mountains, which, following the Po by Turin, after some distance, spreads wide, and forms the duchy of Montferrat. The soil ...
— Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson - Volume I • Thomas Jefferson

... even far into November, frequently flowing fast in these trees, as in Maples in the spring; and apparently their bright tints, now that most other Oaks are withered, are connected with this phenomenon. They are full of life. It has a pleasantly astringent, acorn-like taste, this strong Oak-wine, as I find on tapping them with ...
— Excursions • Henry D. Thoreau

... used by these Indians and by the natives of Terra Australis, affords very little nourishment. They suck the bottom part of the drupes, or separated nuts, as we do the leaves of the artichoke; but the quantity of pulp thus obtained, is very small, and to my taste, too astringent to be agreeable. In the third volume of the Asiatic Researches, the fruit of the pandanus is described as furnishing, under the name of Mellori, an important article of food to the inhabitants of the Nicobar Islands; and in Mauritius, ...
— A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 2 • Matthew Flinders

... this disease, particularly from her husband, she is very likely to interpret the discharge as a leucorrhea, may say nothing about it to her husband or her physician, but adopt simple home treatment with antiseptic and astringent douches. Such treatment will usually result in allaying the inflammation in the superficial organs, but will not eradicate it from the deeper organs. It spreads to the uterus, Fallopian tubes and ovaries and may even affect peritoneal tissues, first of the pelvis, then of the ...
— The Biology, Physiology and Sociology of Reproduction - Also Sexual Hygiene with Special Reference to the Male • Winfield S. Hall

... frakseno. ask : demandi. "-for," peti. asparagus : asparago. aspect : aspekto, vidigxo, fazo. aspen : tremolo. ass : azeno. assemble : kunveni, kunvoki. assert : aserti, konstati. assign : asigni. assure : certigi; asekuri. astonish : mirigi. ("to be -ed"), miri. astringent : adstringa. astute : sagaca. asylum : rifugxejo, azilo. athletic : atleta. atmosphere : atmosfero. atom : atomo. attach : alligi, kunigi. attain : atingi, trafi. attempt : provi; (criminal) atenco. ...
— The Esperanto Teacher - A Simple Course for Non-Grammarians • Helen Fryer

... She was there, somewhere between him and Johnnie, within fifty yards of both of them, mysterious and withdrawn as ever, busy at something or other. And it was naught to Johnnie! By the thought of all this the woe in him was strengthened and embittered. Nevertheless his youth, aided by the astringent quality of the clear dawn, still struggled sturdily against it. And he ate six times more breakfast than his ...
— Clayhanger • Arnold Bennett

... bramble-berries, cran-berries, hurtle-berries, heath-berries, a small red berry, which, in Newfoundland, is called partridge-berry, and another brown berry, unknown to us. This has somewhat of the taste of a sloe, but is unlike it in every other respect. It is very astringent, if eaten in any quantity. Brandy might be distilled from it. Captain Clerke attempted to preserve some; but they fermented, and became as strong as if they had ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 • Robert Kerr

... too great a quantity: thus several of our people were attacked with diarrhoea in a few days after we began to make this fish our ordinary sustenance; but they found a remedy in the raspberries of the country which have an astringent property. ...
— Narrative of a Voyage to the Northwest Coast of America in the years 1811, 1812, 1813, and 1814 or the First American Settlement on the Pacific • Gabriel Franchere

... and fortified with brandy, before it is shipped. Let us leave him in blissful ignorance. We tasted many samples before we left, but I own I have no liking for sherries, simple or doctored. Among Spanish wines I far prefer the full-bodied astringent sub-acidity of the common Val de Penas, beloved of Cervantes. But the Queen of wines is sound Bordeaux. To that Queen, however, a delicate etherous Amontillado might be admitted as Spanish maid-of-honour, preceding the royal footsteps, while the syrupy Malaga from the Doradillo grape might ...
— Romantic Spain - A Record of Personal Experiences (Vol. II) • John Augustus O'Shea

... poisonous substance,) and not by means of verdigris, or copperas.[87] The latter substances would instantly turn the tea black; because both these metallic salts being soluble in water, are acted on by the astringent matter of the leaves, whether genuine or spurious, and convert ...
— A Treatise on Adulterations of Food, and Culinary Poisons • Fredrick Accum

... (bind): (1) district, restrict, strictly, stringent, strain, restrain, constrain; (2) stricture, constriction, boa constrictor, astringent, ...
— The Century Vocabulary Builder • Creever & Bachelor

... the same to you, I'll just keep on chewing spice brush while I work," he muttered. "You are entirely too much of an astringent to suit my taste and you bring a cent less a pound. But you are thicker and dry heavier, and you grow in any quantity around the lake and on the marshy places, so I'll make the size of the bundle atone for the price. If I peel ...
— The Harvester • Gene Stratton Porter

... put me in the servant girl's arms and told her to run with me through the garden and out by a back way to Peter Lawson to have something done to stop the bleeding. He simply pushed a wad of cotton into my mouth after soaking it in some brown astringent stuff, and told me to be sure to keep my mouth shut and all would soon be well. Mother put me to bed, calmed my fears, and told me to lie still and sleep like a gude bairn. But just as I was dropping off to sleep ...
— The Story of My Boyhood and Youth • John Muir

... grassy-looking plants, with heads of bright lilac flowers, and on plucking one pulled up the root also. The root was about the size and shape of a large crocus: and on biting it, she found it far from disagreeable—sweet, and slightly astringent. It seemed to be a favourite root with the woodchucks, for she noticed that it grew about their burrows on dry, gravelly soil, and many of the stems were bitten and the roots eaten—a warrant, in full, of wholesomeness. Therefore, carrying home a parcel of the largest of ...
— Lost in the Backwoods • Catharine Parr Traill

... the piano-stool, Cope, standing alongside, would lay a hand on his. Mrs. Phillips noticed these minor familiarities and remarked on them to Foster, who had lately wheeled his chair in. Foster, a few days later, passed the comment on to Randolph, with an astringent comment of his own.—At all events, Amy Leffingwell remained in the distance, and George Pearson shared the ...
— Bertram Cope's Year • Henry Blake Fuller

... Lorison was, when thoroughly stirred, apt to become tempestuous. With a high and stubborn indignation upon him, be retraced his steps to the intersecting street by which he had come. Down this he hurried to the corner where he had parted with—an astringent grimace tinctured the thought—his wife. Thence still back he harked, following through an unfamiliar district his stimulated recollections of the way they had come from that preposterous wedding. Many times he went abroad, and nosed his way back ...
— Whirligigs • O. Henry

... is a fruit of the pear form, and dark-brown in color. The rind is tough and elastic, but not very thick. The edible substance, which is soft and green, encloses a kernel resembling a chestnut in form and color. This fruit is very astringent and bitter, and on being cut, a juice flows from it which is at first yellow, but soon turns black. The taste is peculiar, and at first not agreeable to a foreigner; but it is generally much liked when the palate becomes accustomed to it. The fruit of the Palta dissolves like butter ...
— Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests • J. J. von Tschudi

... aspect is given of polished spots where repairs have been going on. There is only one way of counteracting this—by mixing other gums or resins that have less or but little glare when hard. Those of a very astringent quality should be avoided, as when dry their pulling power or contraction is very great, and a cracked surface not at all like the rich fused appearance of many of the old masters, but dry and uninteresting, will make itself ...
— The Repairing & Restoration of Violins - 'The Strad' Library, No. XII. • Horace Petherick

... when, as in the creature, they are separated from love, they appear as evil.[34] The analogy of the fruit is, in this connection a favourite one with both Law and Boehme. When a fruit is unripe (i.e. incomplete) it is sour, bitter, astringent, unwholesome; but when it has been longer exposed to the sun and air it becomes sweet, luscious, and good to eat. Yet it is the same fruit, and the astringent qualities are not lost or destroyed, but transmuted ...
— Mysticism in English Literature • Caroline F. E. Spurgeon

... good for sore throats, and for inflammation of the gums and tonsils. We are also told, that the young green shoots, eaten as salad, will fix teeth which are loose; probably (if it be so) it is from the astringent qualities in the juice strengthening and hardening the gums. The leaves pounded, are said to be a cure for the ringworm; and they are also made into tea by some of the cottagers, which is very useful ...
— Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 462 - Volume 18, New Series, November 6, 1852 • Various

... experiment with the small twigs of the chokecherry, which being stripped of their leaves and cut into pieces about two inches long were boiled in pure water, till they produced a strong black decoction of an astringent bitter taste; a pint of this he took at sunset, and repeated the dose an hour afterwards. By ten o'clock he was perfectly relieved from pain, a gentle perspiration ensued, his fever abated and in the morning he was quite recovered. One of the men caught several dozen fish ...
— History of the Expedition under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark, Vol. I. • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark

... is as superior to the wild seedling as is American gold to Mexico's money. These wild seedlings are small in size artificially colored a bright red and have a sharp, astringent taste and have a commercial value only because they are used to lower ...
— Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Eleventh Annual Meeting - Washington, D. C. October 7 AND 8, 1920 • Various

... bistorta) with cylindrical spikes of pink flowers and a rhizome used as an astringent in ...
— Mother's Remedies - Over One Thousand Tried and Tested Remedies from Mothers - of the United States and Canada • T. J. Ritter

... water this forms a thick glutinous mass, with a rather astringent taste, and is eaten with salt, limes, and chilies. Sago-bread is made in large quantities, by baking it into cakes in a small clay oven containing six or eight slits side by side, each about three-quarters of an inch wide, and six or eight inches square. The raw sago is broken up, dried in the ...
— The Malay Archipelago - Volume II. (of II.) • Alfred Russel Wallace

... foliaged tree, 30 to 60 feet high, some individuals pale yellow, others deep green, both in apparent health. Feronia Elephantum and Aegle marmelos* [The Bhel fruit, lately introduced into English medical practice, as an astringent of great effect, in cases of diarrhoea and dysentery.] were very abundant, with Sterculia, ...
— Himalayan Journals (Complete) • J. D. Hooker

... millefolium) is usually regarded as a weed, but sheep are very fond of it, and when they can get it, never fail to eat it greedily. It possesses astringent properties. Some writers have recommended it as a good crop for warrens and sands. Its composition, according ...
— The Stock-Feeder's Manual - the chemistry of food in relation to the breeding and - feeding of live stock • Charles Alexander Cameron

... afflictions, but all those disorders that arise from an improper temperature of the fluids, may be produced from the action, corrosion, and stimulation of pernicious teas. In proportion to the state of the fluids, in particular constitutions, they may either prove too relaxing or astringent, too condensing or attenuating, and too acrid or viscid; for India teas, that to some constitutions are very diluting, may produce in others contrary effects: therefore such should be chosen as possess a combination of quality that may render them, as nearly as possible, to a general specific. ...
— A Treatise on Foreign Teas - Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, - Entitled An Essay On the Nerves • Hugh Smith

... need to be reminded of many seemingly well-authenticated cases of escape from the fire-ordeal. It has been usual to ascribe the preservation of those who have walked bare-footed over heated ploughshares to the use of astringent lotions: and where opportunity existed for preparation of that kind, their escape may perhaps be so explained. But in most instances the accused was in the custody of the accusers, and not likely to have access to such phylacteries. ...
— The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II • Various

... palms were planted either by the Manbos themselves or by their ancestors. The nuts are found in scarcely sufficient quantity to supply the demand. When they can not be obtained, other plants [13] are used, but they are an inferior substitute. In taste the betel nut is exceedingly astringent and can not be used except in combination with the betel leaf and lime. As a rule the green and tender nut is preferred by the mountain Manbos, but the ripe nut seems to be the choice of those who have come in contact with Christianized ...
— The Manbos of Mindano - Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume XXIII, First Memoir • John M. Garvan



Words linked to "Astringent" :   nonastringent, astringent drug, stypsis, alum, medicament, sour, astringence, medicinal drug, styptic, medication, astringency



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