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balsam
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
balsam
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ NOUN
fir
▪ At night, they lay on beds made from the branches of balsam firs.
▪ I spotted it briefly as it hopped among the thick branches of a balsam fir close above me.
▪ The balsam fir, which had not shown much decline prior to 1986, also began to be diminished.
▪ Here is also a carpet of two-to three-inch-tall balsam firs, and similarly-sized red maples.
▪ The balsam fir did not appear to be affected at all, or at least not much.
▪ The red spruces and balsam firs that dominated the vegetation near the mountaintop thrived under high rainfall and cool temperatures.
▪ There are also maple, spruce, pine and balsam fir saplings, and patches of wild raspberries and blueberries.
▪ The berm was now covered with a strip of forest, primarily of balsam fir and red maples.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ At night, they lay on beds made from the branches of balsam firs.
▪ Here is also a carpet of two-to three-inch-tall balsam firs, and similarly-sized red maples.
▪ I spotted it briefly as it hopped among the thick branches of a balsam fir close above me.
▪ Other products were jade, rushes, tamarisk and balsam poplar.
▪ The balsam fir did not appear to be affected at all, or at least not much.
▪ The balsam fir, which had not shown much decline prior to 1986, also began to be diminished.
▪ The red spruces and balsam firs that dominated the vegetation near the mountaintop thrived under high rainfall and cool temperatures.
▪ There are also maple, spruce, pine and balsam fir saplings, and patches of wild raspberries and blueberries.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Balsam

Balsam \Bal"sam\, v. t. To treat or anoint with balsam; to relieve, as with balsam; to render balsamic.

Balsam

Balsam \Bal"sam\ (b[add]l"sam), n. [L. balsamum the balsam tree or its resin, Gr. ba`lsamon. See Balm, n.]

  1. A resin containing more or less of an essential or volatile oil.

    Note: The balsams are aromatic resinous substances, flowing spontaneously or by incision from certain plants. A great variety of substances pass under this name, but the term is now usually restricted to resins which, in addition to a volatile oil, contain benzoic and cinnamic acid. Among the true balsams are the balm of Gilead, and the balsams of copaiba, Peru, and Tolu. There are also many pharmaceutical preparations and resinous substances, possessed of a balsamic smell, to which the name balsam has been given.

  2. (Bot.)

    1. A species of tree ( Abies balsamea).

    2. An annual garden plant ( Impatiens balsamina) with beautiful flowers; balsamine.

  3. Anything that heals, soothes, or restores.

    Was not the people's blessing a balsam to thy blood?
    --Tennyson.

    Balsam apple (Bot.), an East Indian plant ( Momordica balsamina), of the gourd family, with red or orange-yellow cucumber-shaped fruit of the size of a walnut, used as a vulnerary, and in liniments and poultices.

    Balsam fir (Bot.), the American coniferous tree, Abies balsamea, from which the useful Canada balsam is derived.

    Balsam of copaiba. See Copaiba.

    Balsam of Mecca, balm of Gilead.

    Balsam of Peru, a reddish brown, syrupy balsam, obtained from a Central American tree ( Myroxylon Pereir[ae] and used as a stomachic and expectorant, and in the treatment of ulcers, etc. It was long supposed to be a product of Peru.

    Balsam of Tolu, a reddish or yellowish brown semisolid or solid balsam, obtained from a South American tree ( Myroxylon toluiferum). It is highly fragrant, and is used as a stomachic and expectorant.

    Balsam tree, any tree from which balsam is obtained, esp. the Abies balsamea.

    Canada balsam, Balsam of fir, Canada turpentine, a yellowish, viscid liquid, which, by time and exposure, becomes a transparent solid mass. It is obtained from the balm of Gilead (or balsam) fir ( Abies balsamea) by breaking the vesicles upon the trunk and branches. See Balm.

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Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
balsam

1570s, "aromatic resin used for healing wounds and soothing pains," from Latin balsamum "gum of the balsam tree" (see balm). There is an isolated Old English reference from c.1000, and Middle English used basme, baume, from the French form of the word. As a type of flowering plant of the Impatiens family, it is attested from 1741.

Wiktionary
balsam

n. 1 (context chiefly UK English) A sweet-smelling oil or resin derived from various plants. 2 (context chiefly UK English) A plant or tree yielding such substance. 3 (context chiefly UK English) A soothing ointment. 4 (context chiefly UK figuratively English) Something soothing. 5 A flowering plant of the genus ''Impatiens''. 6 The balsam family of flowering plants (''(taxlink Balsaminaceae family noshow=1)''), which includes ''Impatiens'' and (taxlink Hydrocera genus noshow=1). 7 A balsam fir ''Abies balsamea''. 8 Canada balsam, a turpentine obtained from the resin of balsam fir. vb. (context transitive English) To treat or anoint with balsam.

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WordNet
balsam

  1. n. any seed plant yielding balsam

  2. any of various fragrant oleoresins used in medicines and perfumes

  3. a fragrant ointment containing a balsam resin

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Gazetteer
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Wikipedia
Balsam

Balsam is the resinous exudate (or sap), which forms on certain kinds of trees and shrubs. Balsam (from Hebrew bosem בֹּשֶׂם, "spice", "perfume") owes its name to the biblical Balm of Gilead.

Balsam (drink)

Balsam is a variety of traditional Eastern European herbal, high alcohol content (40-45%) liqueurs originally used for medicinal purposes.

Balsam (disambiguation)

Balsam is a group of plant products derived from various plants. Balsam may also refer to:

  • the balsam family of flowering plants, Balsaminaceae
  • the plant genus Impatiens
  • Abies balsamea, an evergreen tree commonly known as the balsam fir
  • Balsam (drink), liqueur made with herbs
  • Riga Black Balsam (Rīgas Melnais balzams), a traditional Latvian herbal liqueur
  • Friar's balsam, or Tincture of benzoin
People
  • Arthur Balsam (1906–1994), pianist
  • Isaac Balsam (1880–1945), founder of the Balsam Dairy Farm
  • Martin Balsam (1919–1996), actor
  • Paul Balsam (1905–1972), New York Supreme Court Justice
  • Talia Balsam (born 1959), American actress
Places
  • Balsam, Michigan, an unincorporated community
  • The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire
  • Balsam, North Carolina, a town in the United States
  • Great Balsam Mountains of North Carolina
  • Balsam Lake (Wisconsin), a lake in Wisconsin
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Usage examples of "balsam".

It appears to me that the dye must have been anatto, unless the muslin, originally red, turned rose-colour through the action the balsam and of time.

His trip to Yarmouth was a resounding success: he and an importer called Grover Pankey got along famously, smoked cigars on the beachfront, and struck a deal to supply Rackham Perfumeries with dirt-cheap ivory pots for the dearer balsams.

In the gaps left behind, nettles and stitchwort and sanicle would grow--but mostly Himalayan balsam, in long pink ribbons edging the river.

Then there is a narrow belt of scrubby hardwood, moss-grown, and then large balsams, which crown the mountain.

Near the highest point, sheltered from the north by balsams, stands a house of entertainment, with a detached cottage, looking across the great valley to the Black Mountain range.

After a struggle of five hours we emerged from the balsams and briers into a lovely open meadow, of lush clover, timothy, and blue grass.

And he admired the ingenuity which had carried this road through nine miles of shabby firs and balsams, in a way absolutely devoid of interest, in order to heighten the effect of the surprise at the end in the sudden arrival at the Franconia Notch.

Beyond a screen of balsams and budding maple trees, Sturgeon Lake was a silver glimmer beneath a cloudy sky.

Of pines, the white spruce is the most common here: the red and black spruce, the balsam of Gilead fir, and Banksian pine, also occur frequently.

It took the balsams, brazilwood, and scented ointments to the mirror, as though only in the looking glass could it tell their color, but when putting on the whitener it turned its face away from the mirror, as though afraid of injury.

Then the river became broad and still, and mirrored in its transparent depths regal pines, straight as an arrow, with rich yellow and green lichen clinging to their stems, and firs and balsam pines filling up the spaces between them, the gorge opened, and this mountain-girdled lake lay before me, with its margin broken up into bays and promontories, most picturesquely clothed by huge sugar pines.

The most conspicuous of these is Mount Pisgah, eighteen miles distant to the southwest, a pyramid of the Balsam range, 5757 feet high.

In the French cosmetics shop, as she was buying Reuter soaps and balsam water, they put a touch of the latest perfume from Paris behind her ear and gave her a breath tablet to use after smoking.

He had filled one part of the bag with cartridges, oilcloth and balsam, and in the other had put a loaf of bread, a soft cheese and a bottle of wine.

Then he stopped relying on his memory and on the authority of Thomas, and began seeing doors of sardonyx mixed with horns of the cerastes, which prevent passersby from introducing poison into the building, and windows of crystal, tables of gold on columns of ivory, lights nourished with balsam, and the king's bed of sapphire, to preserve chastity, becausethe Poet concludedthis John may be a king all right, but he is also a priest and so, as for women, nothing doing.