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balm
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
balm
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
lip balm
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
lip
▪ Apply a lip moisturiser or lip balm about 20 minutes before you want to apply lipstick.
▪ There was an ornate gazebo, large enough for dances, that had commemorated the success of a flavored lip balm.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ The performers were reassured by the balm of warm applause.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A thin ribbon that separates unparalleled views from unattainable wealth, the walk is a welcome balm to the landlocked masses.
▪ It absolved him of jealousy and spread balm on her irritations and reassured her that she had not the slightest regret.
▪ Its friendliness is balm for tortured West Coast souls.
▪ Smoothing her balm on my lips with a single finger.
▪ There would be sulphur as well as balm.
▪ Your lips have no natural moisturising ability so need frequent application of protective balm or stick.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Balm

Balm \Balm\, v. t. To anoint with balm, or with anything medicinal. Hence: To soothe; to mitigate. [Archaic]
--Shak.

Balm

Balm \Balm\ (b[aum]m), n. [OE. baume, OF. bausme, basme, F. baume, L. balsamum balsam, from Gr. ba`lsamon; perhaps of Semitic origin; cf. Heb. b[=a]s[=a]m. Cf. Balsam.]

  1. (Bot.) An aromatic plant of the genus Melissa.

  2. The resinous and aromatic exudation of certain trees or shrubs.
    --Dryden.

  3. Any fragrant ointment.
    --Shak.

  4. Anything that heals or that mitigates pain. ``Balm for each ill.''
    --Mrs. Hemans.

    Balm cricket (Zo["o]l.), the European cicada.
    --Tennyson.

    Balm of Gilead (Bot.), a small evergreen African and Asiatic tree of the terebinthine family ( Balsamodendron Gileadense). Its leaves yield, when bruised, a strong aromatic scent; and from this tree is obtained the balm of Gilead of the shops, or balsam of Mecca. This has a yellowish or greenish color, a warm, bitterish, aromatic taste, and a fragrant smell. It is valued as an unguent and cosmetic by the Turks. The fragrant herb Dracocephalum Canariense is familiarly called balm of Gilead, and so are the American trees, Populus balsamifera, variety candicans (balsam poplar), and Abies balsamea (balsam fir).

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
balm

early 13c., basme, aromatic substance made from resins and oils, from Old French basme (Modern French baume), from Latin balsamum, from Greek balsamon "balsam," from Hebrew basam "spice," related to Aramaic busma, Arabic basham "balsam, spice, perfume."\n

\nSpelling refashioned 15c.-16c. on Latin model. Sense of "healing or soothing influence" (1540s) is from aromatic preparations from balsam (see balsam). Biblical Balm of Gilead, however, began with Coverdale; the Hebrew word there is tsori, which was rendered in Septuagint and Vulgate as "resin" (Greek rhetine, Latin resina).

Wiktionary
balm

n. 1 Any of various aromatic resin exuded from certain plants, especially trees of the genus ''Commiphora'' of Africa, Arabia and India and ''Myroxylon'' of South Americ

  1. 2 A plant or tree yielding such substance. 3 Any soothing oil or lotion, especially an aromatic one. 4 (context figuratively English) Something soothing. 5 Any of various aromatic plants of the genus ''Melissa'', such as lemon balm ((taxlink Melissa officinalis species noshow=1)) or bee balm. v

  2. 1 (context archaic English) To anoint with balm, or with anything medicinal. 2 (context figurative English) To soothe; to mitigate.

WordNet
balm
  1. n. any of various aromatic resinous substances used for healing and soothing

  2. semisolid preparation (usually containing a medicine) applied externally as a remedy or for soothing an irritation [syn: ointment, unction, unguent, salve]

Wikipedia
Balm

Balm can refer to:

  • Liniment, a topical medical preparation
  • Melissa (plant), a genus of plants, particularly the species commonly known as balm in the United Kingdom or Lemon balm in the United States
  • Monarda, a genus of plants commonly known as bee balm
  • Elsholtzia ciliata a species of plants sometimes known as Vietnamese balm
  • Balm of Gilead, a medicinal resin from the North American species Populus candicans
  • Balsam of Mecca and other medicinal resins (compare Balm of Gilead (disambiguation) )
  • Balsam of Peru

Usage examples of "balm".

If he must dispense his balm of Gilead in nostrums and apothegms of dubious taste to restore to health a generation of unfledged profligates let his practice consist better with the doctrines that now engross him.

Herbert gathered several shoots of the basil, rosemary, balm, betony, etc.

Firekeeper caught the scent of skullcap, wood betony, lavender and lemon balm.

Groves of lemon, groves of citron, Tall high-foliaged plane and palm, Bloomy myrtle, light-blue olive, Wave her back with gusts of balm.

Oh visit me but once, but pitying shed One drop of balm upon my withered soul.

Cyrenaica produced the silphium, or asafoetida, which, like the balm of Gilead, was one of the specifics of antiquity, and which is really a medicine of value.

The perfume of the spikenard had been a balm to the loneliness in my belly.

Clarice had covered with a lace cloth and with balms and creams, hairpins and swaths of cloth.

Add that to all the chive, dillweed, and lemon balm growing around the porch and the smell could knock you over.

The lists of his presents expresses the manners of the agea radiated crown of gold, a cross set with pearls to hang on the breast, a case of relics, with the names and titles of the saints, a vase of crystal, a vase of sardonyx, some balm, most probably of Mecca, and one hundred pieces of purple.

But this being locked, hope, the only balm of affliction, forsook her, and had she not felt the indispensible necessity of actual exertion, this new disappointment would have overthrown her purpose.

His Cockney accent was like balm to Donna after listening to he thick Glaswegian tones of everyone else.

Several kinds of the Mints have been used medicinally from the earliest times, such as Balm, Basil, Ground Ivy, Horehound, Marjoram, Pennyroyal, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage, Savory, Spearmint, and Thyme, some being esteemed rather as pot herbs, than as exercising positive medicinal effects.

For one shilling only, you can place a bottle of this remarkable Horsehoof Balm in your home today.

And Doctor Goddard stood before her now, his bowler hat a little crooked, his smile so reassuring, his suitcase again filled with shiny bottles of Horsehoof Balm.