Library / English Dictionary

BITTERWOOD

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Medium to large tree of tropical North and South America having odd-pinnate leaves and long panicles of small pale yellow flowers followed by scarlet fruits

Synonyms:

bitterwood; paradise tree; Simarouba glauca

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("bitterwood" is a kind of...):

bitterwood tree (any of various trees or shrubs of the family Simaroubaceae having wood and bark with a bitter taste)

Holonyms ("bitterwood" is a member of...):

genus Simarouba; Simarouba (type genus of Simaroubaceae; tropical American trees and shrubs having a pale soft wood and bitter bark)

Sense 2

Meaning:

West Indian tree yielding the drug Jamaica quassia

Synonyms:

bitterwood; Jamaica quassia; Picrasma excelsa; Picrasma excelsum

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("bitterwood" is a kind of...):

bitterwood tree (any of various trees or shrubs of the family Simaroubaceae having wood and bark with a bitter taste)

Meronyms (substance of "bitterwood"):

Jamaica quassia (similar to the extract from Quassia amara)

Holonyms ("bitterwood" is a member of...):

genus Picrasma; Picrasma (small genus of deciduous trees of tropical America and Asia)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Handsome South American shrub or small tree having bright scarlet flowers and yielding a valuable fine-grained yellowish wood; yields the bitter drug quassia from its wood and bark

Synonyms:

bitterwood; quassia; Quassia amara

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("bitterwood" is a kind of...):

bitterwood tree (any of various trees or shrubs of the family Simaroubaceae having wood and bark with a bitter taste)

Holonyms ("bitterwood" is a member of...):

genus Quassia (tropical trees and shrubs with pinnate leaves and large scarlet flowers; bark is medicinal)

Credits