The Collaborative International Dictionary
Quassin \Quas"sin\, n. [Cf. F. quassine. See Quassia.] (Chem.) The bitter principle of quassia, extracted as a white crystalline substance; -- formerly called quassite.
Wiktionary
n. (context organic compound English) A very bitter triterpenoid lactone, extracted as white crystals from the quassia tree, used in traditional Chinese medicine
Wikipedia
Quassin is a white bitter, crystalline substance extracted from the quassia tree. It is one of the most bitter substances found in nature with a bitter threshold of 0.08 ppm and it is 50 times more bitter than quinine.
Quassin is used as a medicine in traditional Chinese medicine.
Extracts of the Bitter tree (or bitter wood) ( Quassia amara L. or Picrasma excelsa) are also used as additives in soft drinks.
Although its skeleton possesses 20 carbon atoms, quassin is not a diterpene but rather a triterpene lactone, which derives from euphol by loss of 10 carbon atoms including C4.
Usage examples of "quassin".
Sometimes, a man will scratch himself with his own ten-step arrow, by not meaning to, and he can take the quassin doe, and he will be well again.
Then you have no time to take the quassin doe, you will die too quick.
But if you are shot in another place, maybe your leg, the poison takes longer to work, and you have time to take the quassin doe.
In times long ago, when there was war, our men would swallow quassin doe just before a battle, so the enemy's ten-step arrows would not poison them.
She found a square of cloth lying on the floor nearby, used for packaging purchases and wrapped the quassin doe plants.
He also carried a few leaves of quassin doe, the antidote for ten-step poison, but as the poison's name implied, haste with the quassin doe was essential.