Crossword clues for upas
upas
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Upas \U"pas\ ([=u]"p[.a]s), n. [Malay p[=u]hn-[=u]pas; p[=u]hn a tree + [=u]pas poison.]
(Bot.) A tree ( Antiaris toxicaria) of the Breadfruit family, common in the forests of Java and the neighboring islands. Its secretions are poisonous, and it has been fabulously reported that the atmosphere about it is deleterious. Called also bohun upas.
A virulent poison used in Java and the adjacent islands for poisoning arrows. One kind, upas antiar, is derived from the upas tree ( Antiaris toxicaria). Upas tieute is prepared from a climbing plant ( Strychnos Tieute).
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
legendary poisonous tree of Java, 1783, via Dutch, from Malay upas "poison," in pohun upas "poison tree." As the name of an actual tree (Antiaris toxicaria) yielding poisonous sap, from 1814.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context usually countable botany English) A tree (taxlink Antiaris toxicaria species noshow=1) of the mulberry family, common in the forests of Java and the neighboring islands, with poisonous secretions. 2 (context uncountable English) A virulent poison used in Java and the adjacent islands for poisoning arrows derived from the tree. 3 (context uncountable English) A poison prepared from a climbing plant (taxlink Strychnos tieute species noshow=1)
Usage examples of "upas".
They lived under the deadly shadow of the upas tree, and suffered the consequences of its stunting their development in all directions, as the ague-smitten inhabitant of the Roman Campana finds every sense and every muscle clogged by the filtering in of the insidious miasma.
He displayed his erudition, cited pell-mell cantharides, upas, the manchineel, vipers.
The famous deadly Upas Tree of the East Indies (Antiaris toxicaria, Lesc.
Está hecha con trenzas de mujeres muertas, que yo mismo cogí de sus tumbas a medianoche, y que luego sumergí en la mortífera savia del árbol de upas, para hacerlas resistentes.
You, ma'am,' he pointed a finger at Mrs Flawse, 'an undernourished vulture has more patience perched upon an upas tree than you with your squat backside on that bench.