Also 4 euf-, eufforbium. [a. L. euphorbeum = euphorbea.]
† 1. = EUPHORBIA. Obs.
1607. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. II. (1605–7), III. 67. His Shield … freng’d about with sprigs of Scammonie, And of Euphorbium, forged cunningly.
1626. Bacon, Sylva (1631), § 639. Euphorbium also hath a Milke … not very white, which is of a great Acrimony.
1712. E. Cook, Voy. S. Sea, 326. The Trees I observ’d here, were Lignum Vitæ, Birch … Euphorbium.
1767. J. Abercrombie, Ev. Man his own Gard. (1803), 130. Succulent kinds … such as … euphorbiums.
2. A gum resin obtained from certain succulent species of Euphorbia. It is an extremely acrid substance, formerly used as an emetic and purgative. The powder causes violent sneezing.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg. (MS. A), 43. To drie bodies he muste be medlid wiþ a litil euforbium [printed enforbium].
c. 1530. Hickscorner, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 178. He … spake To a prentice for a penny-worth of euphorbium.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, II. xvi. (1664), 117–8. Another [pocket] he had all full of Euphorbium, very finely pulverised…. Shaking it [his handkerchief] hard at their nose, [he] made them sneeze for foure hours without ceasing.
1760. Willis, in Phil. Trans., LI. 663. She took … two ounces of the tincture of euphorbium.
1860. Sir W. Hooker & Arnott, Brit. Flora, 291. Euphorbia officinarum, antiquorum and canariensis give the euphorbium of the shops.
