guaiac
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guai·a·cum
(gwī′ə-kəm)n.
1. Any of several tropical American trees of the genus Guaiacum; a lignum vitae.
2. also guai·ac (gwī′ăk′)
a. The wood of a guaiacum.
b. A greenish-brown resin obtained from this tree, used medicinally and in varnishes.
[New Latin, from Spanish guayacán, from Taíno.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
guai•ac
(ˈgwaɪ æk)n.
1. a greenish brown resin obtained from the guaiacum tree, esp. from Guaiacum officinale, used in varnishes, as a food preservative, and as a medical test for the presence of blood in excreted matter.
[1550–60; see guaiacum]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Noun | 1. | guaiac - hard greenish-brown wood of the lignum vitae tree and other trees of the genus Guaiacum Guaiacum officinale, lignum vitae - small evergreen tree of Caribbean and southern Central America to northern South America; a source of lignum vitae wood, hardest of commercial timbers, and a medicinal resin wood - the hard fibrous lignified substance under the bark of trees |
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